Shortly after Miami Herald Publisher David Landsberg announced the move of Manny Garcia to El Nuevo Herald, Executive Editor Anders Gyllenhaal announced that current Features Editor Mindy Marques will replace Garcia as the newspaper's new Senior Editor.
Actually Marques, a former Miami Bureau Chief for People Magazine, isn't replacing Garcia. Gyllenhaal wrote that she will instead "cover" his position and added that other editing positions will be lost in the months to come.
"Manny's slot itself in top management will not be replaced," wrote Gyllenhaal in a companywide e-mail. "Instead, Mindy's move and other internal changes will cover that position as well as other editing reductions to come. By the conclusion of the reorganization, we will have 40 percent fewer editors than a year ago, which we will compensate for with changes in how departments operate and workloads are shared."
I'm not sure what exactly that means, but it's clear that Marques is stepping into a tough environment. In additon to the future cuts in the editor's ranks, the Herald last week cut 175 positions, including about 50 in the newsroom. It was the third round of layoffs/buyouts in recent months. Several of recent job losses came in the editing ranks, including two department heads and the Broward Editor.
"Mindy has worked at every level of the profession, from Neighbors to deputy metro editor to Miami Bureau Chief for People Magazine," Gyllenhaal wrote. "She returned to The Herald in 2007 as multimedia editor to help launch Miami.com. She then became Features editor and now also oversees the Sunday paper, Neighbors, Miami.com and MomsMiami.com as well as serving on the company's Innovations leadership board."
Gyllenhaal's full email can be found after the jump.
From: Gyllenhaal, Anders - Miami
Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2009 5:22 PM
To: .MIA Newsroom
Subject: As Manny Garcia takes on El Nuevo editor role, Mindy Marques become's Herald senior editor....
First, congratulations to Manny Garcia on his appointment as executive editor of El Nuevo Herald, replacing Humberto Castello and taking the reins of the nation's most successful regional Spanish language paper at a key moment.
Second, we're delighted to announce that Mindy Marques will take Manny's place as senior editor for news in the first step in a reorganization of The Herald newsroom.
Mindy brings extensive experience in and outside The Herald to her role at the center of the newsroom. She is a talented editor and a thoughtful leader who has appreciation for what has made this paper strong over the past century and for where our business must go from here.
Over the past year, Manny carved out a significant new position that has helped us modernize the paper and website. He has directed the news departments, helped build and shape the Continuous News Desk, worked closely with our enterprise and investigative staffs, and helped guide the paper overall.
Mindy will step into that role at the same time as she takes on a number of new challenges. We need to move ever more quickly with fewer resources. We have many fresh initiatives still being put into place. We're developing new ways of doing things with partners and competitors.
In the coming weeks, we'll work to reshape the structure of the newsroom in the wake of the reductions. As discussed last week, we will consolidate our 13 departments into four or so segments of the newsroom in order to share the workload between disciplines, serve our multi-media needs and operate as a leaner organization. Any ideas or suggestions on how to do this are appreciated.
We will gather shortly in Features to talk about what this means for the department; we plan to have new leadership in place by the time these moves go into effect at the end of the month.
Manny's slot itself in top management will not be replaced. Instead, Mindy's move and other internal changes will cover that position as well as other editing reductions to come. By the conclusion of the reorganization, we will have 40 percent fewer editors than a year ago, which we will compensate for with changes in how departments operate and workloads are shared.
Manny and Mindy, both raised in Miami, also both grew up professionally at The Herald over the past two decades. In fact, they both started in the Neighbors Hialeah office at about the same time.
In his leadership position, Manny will draw on 18 years and wide experiences in this newsroom. They have taken him from that first Neighbors job, to investigative reporting positions, to shares of two Pulitzer Prizes and to a string of editing roles over the past eight years.
Mindy has worked at every level of the profession, from Neighbors to deputy metro editor to Miami Bureau Chief for People Magazine. She returned to The Herald in 2007 as multimedia editor to help launch Miami.com. She then became Features editor and now also oversees the Sunday paper, Neighbors, Miami.com and MomsMiami.com as well as serving on the company's Innovations leadership board.
With the departures of Humberto and Tony Espetia announced this afternoon, we are losing a great experience that served both newsrooms in many ways over the years. We are lucky to have two such exemplary editors moving into these critical jobs. Please join us in congratulating Manny and Mindy.
-Anders
