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Newsmakers

Staff changes, promotions and additions at Texas newspapers.

TIM ARCHULETA
El Paso Times
EL PASO – Award-winning veteran journalist Tim Archuleta has been named executive editor of the El Paso Times.
Archuleta, 55, editor of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times since 2013, succeeds Zahira Torres, who resigned earlier this month for a role with ProPublica to oversee its Local Reporting Network.
Archuleta will continue in his regional role with the network, overseeing all five news organizations in Texas, along with seven in New Mexico, Colorado, South Dakota and Minnesota.
During Archuleta’s tenure, the Caller-Times won Newspaper of the Year, along with dozens of other statewide awards for excellence.
The Caller-Times also was part of the network’s team of journalists that contributed reporting, research, photos and video to “The Wall: Untold Stories, Unintended Consequences.” The series, which included reporting from the El Paso Times, looked at the impact of President Donald Trump’s planned border wall. It won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting. 
Before joining the Caller-Times, Archuleta spent a decade leading the San Angelo newsroom in West Texas. He also previously served in various editing and reporting roles at the Albuquerque Tribune.
Before starting at the Tribune in 1991, he worked as a crime and police administration reporter for the San Diego Tribune and as a politics and county government reporter for the Saginaw (Mich.) News. He also spent two years as managing editor of the Grant (N.M.) Daily Beacon.

MARY ANN CAVAZOS BECKETT
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
CORPUS CHRISTI – Mary Ann Cavazos Beckett has been named the top editor of the Corpus Christi CallerTimes, making her the first Latina to lead the newsroom in the newspaper’s 136-year history.
The Corpus Christi native, 36, succeeds Tim Archuleta, who became the executive editor of the El Paso Times, which is also part of The USA Today Network.
As editor, Cavazos Beckett oversees all newsroom operations in Corpus Christi. 
Cavazos Beckett is part of Gannett’s Emerging Leaders program and a board member for the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors. Earlier this year, she took on the added role of regional trending strategist working with reporters in the network across Texas and New Mexico.
She is a graduate of King High School and Del Mar College.
Her career at the Caller-Times began 15 years ago when she was hired as a news clerk. At the time she was still attending college and on the staff of The Foghorn, a student publication. As she rose in the ranks, she held various roles as reporter, entertainment editor, deputy city editor, city editor and news director. As a reporter, she covered a range of beats over the years including entertainment, breaking news, government and the justice system. Since becoming a newsroom leader, she’s spent the past several years pushing for coverage that centers around watchdog journalism, government transparency and public service.
Under her leadership the newsroom has won dozens of statewide awards including for its coverage of Hurricane Harvey and for two series Behind Broken Doors and Democracy at Risk.
In 2016, she was nationally recognized as one of Editor & Publisher’s “25 Under 35,” a collection of some of the journalism industry’s most promising leaders. The following year she and other Caller-Times staffers were part of the network’s team of journalists that contributed to “The Wall: Untold Stories, Unintended Consequences.” The coverage won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting, a first in Caller-Times history.

GEORGE COLEMAN
Victoria Advocate
VICTORIA – George Coleman, a newspaper veteran with 40 years of advertising and management experience, is the new director of sales for the Victoria Advocate.
He came to the Advocate from the Sandusky Newspaper Group, where he served as publisher of the Lebanon (Tenn.) Democrat and related publications. He also served as major accounts manager for the group’s Tennessee newspapers.
In his new role, Coleman also will serve as major accounts director for M. Roberts Media’s newspapers in Texas. M. Roberts Media is the parent company of the family-owned Advocate.
Upon graduating with honors from the University of Tennessee with a bachelor’s degree in communications in 1978, Coleman began his newspaper career. After holding management positions in Worrell Newspapers and Knight-Ridder Newspapers, Coleman joined the Sandusky Newspaper Group in August 1992 as advertising director of the Kingsport (Tenn.) Times News. For the past 27 years, Coleman’s responsibilities for the Sandusky Newspapers Tennessee division increased to include the publisher’s role at newspapers in Jonesborough, Lebanon, Mount Juliet and Hartsville while he also served as vice president of national advertising for all the Tennessee newspapers. 
Coleman returned to the University of Tennessee and earned a master’s degree in business administration in 2008.
Chris Cobler, the Advocate’s editor and publisher, said he was delighted to be able to add someone with such deep experience and abilities to the 173-year-old newspaper’s leadership team.

MIRANDA OGLESBY
Mount Pleasant Tribune
MOUNT PLEASANT – Miranda Oglesby has been promoted to managing editor of the Mount Pleasant Tribune, Publisher Tony Cooper announced.
Oglesby joined the Tribune staff last June as a reporter and page designer. Originally from the Dallas metroplex, Oglesby moved to East Texas in the mid 2000s and graduated from Sulphur Springs High school in 2012. In addition to serving as editor of her high school newspaper, she was a writer for The Eagle, the newspaper for North Texas Community College.

ABIGAIL ALLEN
Pilot Point Post-Signal
PILOT POINT _ Abigail Allen, who has worked as a staff writer and copy editor at The Post-Signal since June 2018, is now the newspaper’s assistant editor.
She replaces Don Munsch, who recently left The Post-Signal to join the twice-weekly Elk City News in Oklahoma as editor.
As assistant editor, Allen coordinates The Post-Signal’s news coverage while continuing her duties as a reporter and copy editor. She also continues to assist in the design of the paper’s weekly edition and special issues.
In 2011, Allen graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of North Texas, where she served as editor of the North Texas Daily student newspaper.
After graduating from UNT, Allen wrote feature articles and was copy editor for monthly city editions of the Community Impact Newspaper throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth and Greater Houston areas. She was also a contributing writer for The Post-Signal for a year before joining the staff in Pilot Point.
She is active in the community with Rotary, the Providence Village Economic Development
Corporation board and Monaco Elementary School PTO.

MACON ATKINSON
The Paris News
PARIS – Macon Atkinson has joined the newsroom staff of The Paris News, coming to Texas from the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina.
Managing Editor Klark Byrd announced the appointment.
A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Atkinson is a May graduate of Appalachian State University, where she earned a degree in journalism with a minor in Spanish. She wrote for The Appalachian, the university’s newspaper and was a member of the university chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. She interned at two weekly newspapers in North Carolina, the Watauga Democrat in Boone and INDY Week in Durham. She covered topics ranging from arts and entertainment to immigration and local government.
While Atkinson is interested in political reporting, specifically on immigration, she said she wants to build a solid foundation covering a variety of beats for The Paris News, including breaking news, police and courts, housing and agriculture.

KENT MAHONEY
The Henderson News
HENDERSON – Kent Mahoney, a career journalist, has assumed the managing editor’s duties at The Henderson News, Publisher Dan Moore, announced.
Mahoney came to East Texas from South Carolina where he was the news editor for the Hartsville Messenger, a Berkshire-Hathaway media product. Moore noted that Mahoney has worked at several Texas newspapers during his career.
A native Missourian, Mahoney is beginning his 41st year as a writer.
“There are a handful of issues people want to read in their hometown newspaper,” he said. “They want to know how their local government is spending their taxes; they want to know who of their neighbors has passed; they want to know who won the football game Friday night and who was arrested at the fight afterwards.”

SABRINA HUTTON
Aransas Pass Progress
ARANSAS PASS – Sabrina Hutton is the new editor of the Aransas Pass Progress and Ingleside Index.
She is a graduate of Del Mar College with an associate degree in journalism. 
While a student, she worked for the Foghorn News, the university newspaper.
As part of her duties, she will cover city and county government as well as some sports.

DAVID ROBBINS
Midland 
Reporter-Telegram
MIDLAND – David Robbins, regional vice president of advertising and marketing for Hearst Newspapers Texas Community Newspaper group, is the new general manager of the Midland Reporter-Telegram.
Mark Adkins, chairman of the newspaper group, announced the appointment.
Given the focus on growing advertising revenue in the Midland market, Robbins will continue his leadership over advertising sales functions, Adkins said. In his role as general manager, all other departments at the Reporter-Telegram, as well as the staffs at the Plainview Herald and Muleshoe Journal, also will report to him.
Robbins succeeds former publisher Jeff Shabram, who led the business for four years, Adkins said Shabram led the business “through a challenging time including fluctuating oil prices and production outsourcing.”

SAM FOWLER
Pleasanton Express
PLEASANTON – Former Angelo State University football player Sam Fowler is the new sports editor for the Pleasanton Express.
A 2017 ASU graduate, Fowler garnered All-Conference, All-Region and All-American honors during his three-year career. He also attended Trinity Valley Community College in Athens.
For the past two years, he has covered 27 schools in the Concho Valley for San Angelo LIVE, an online publication. During the 2018 season, he covered the Mason Punchers on their undefeated run to the Class 2A Division I state championship.

JUWAN LEE
Palestine Herald-Press
PALESTINE – Dallas area sportswriter and editor Juwan Lee has been named sports editor of the Palestine Herald-Press.
Editor Jeffery Gerritt announced the appointment. 
As sports editor, Lee will oversee coverage of area high school sports and other sports-related activities. 
Since graduating last year from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Lee has worked as a sportswriter for the Whitesboro News Record. He also served as news editor and writer for the Dallas Sports Fanatic, an online outlet covering Dallas-area college and professional sports, including the Cowboys, Mavericks, Wings and Texas Rangers. 
“Nothing is more important to our readers than high school sports,” Gerritt said. “Juwan is a talented and personable young man who will have an immediate impact, as a writer and personality, on the HeraldPress and its readers.”
Lee is well-versed in social media strategy and podcasting. 
Gerritt noted that freelancers have helped fill the void while the newspaper was without a sports editor. Freelancer Vanessa Goodwyn will continue to play an important role in football coverage.

KELLIE NORTON
Henderson News
HENDERSON – Kellie Norton of Mount Enterprise is the newest member of the Henderson News sales team.
Publisher Dan Moore said this marks the beginning of Norton’s newspaper career but she has previous experience in auto sales.
“This is completely different,” she said. “I want to help businesses succeed with their advertising goals.”
“We are growing at The Henderson News and needed to add another media sales executive to our team,” Moore said. With Kellie¹s sales experience, she will be able to help our customers with their advertising and marketing needs.”

WHITNEY WYATT
Red River Sun
CHILDRESS – Whitney Wyatt is the new editor of the Red River Sun, Publisher Chris Blackburn announced.
Wyatt graduated with honors from Texas Tech University in 2003 with a degree in broadcast journalism. 
She interned with KAMR in Amarillo and WFAA in Dallas while in college. Before reporting at KXII in Sherman, she interned at the CBS network in New York City.
She also wrote for The University Daily, Texas Monthly magazine and the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal while in college. She is a graduate of Childress High School and took photos for the Childress Index at basketball playoff games.
Her resume includes experience in public relations. She came to the Red River Sun from Mr. Rooter Plumbing in Colorado Springs, where she was communications director.