Orange County Register Managing Editor Donna Wares will leave the paper Friday to serve as editorial director for a yet-to-launch online travel enterprise, according to the daily newspaper.
Wares’ departure will follow several members of the publication’s senior management team being laid off in early April after the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana approved the sale of the Register’s parent company, Freedom Communications Inc., to Denver-based Digital First Media for $49.8 million.
The earlier departures included about 70 staffers from throughout the operation, including Freedom Chief Executive Rich Mirman, Editor and Senior Vice President of Content Rob Curley; Vice President of Circulation Bruce Blair; and Lake Trout, senior vice president of sales.
The Register and its sister paper, the Press-Enterprise, are now part of the newly created Southern California News Group, which includes 11 daily newspapers in the region, headed by Publisher and President Ron Hasse.
Wares was the highest-ranking editor dedicated to the Register, reporting to Frank Pine, executive editor at The Orange County Register and Southern California News Group.
The Register will immediately begin seeking a successor, Pine said.
