Brancaccio, McKenna come on board

Marc Brancaccio is the new publisher of Pasadena Weekly, replacing Charles Gerencser who has moved to San Diego to start a new alternative weekly in that market.

Brancaccio was classified director of New Times Los Angeles.

“I really liked it at New Times,” Brancaccio tells AAN News. “In fact it was probably one of the hardest decisions I’ve had to make in the last 10 years. … [But] I get to spread my wings a little bit and have a major impact on the growth and development of what I consider to be an incredible paper.”

Before spending nearly six years at New Times, Brancaccio had worked at Flagpole, an independent weekly in Athens, Ga., where he attended the University of Georgia and got his first newspaper experience on the college paper.

At Ventura County Reporter, Sharon McKenna is the new editor, replacing David Rolland who also has moved to San Diego to help launch San Diego CityBeat later this month. McKenna has been a contributor to alt-weeklies such as Seattle Weekly and Chico News & Review and was also a founding editor of MSNBC.com.

“Ventura County is facing a ton of really important issues right now, particularly related to growth, so that’s something I want to cover a little bit more in depth,” she says.

Southland Publishing, Inc., is parent company of the Ventura County Reporter and Pasadena Weekly, as well as San Diego CityBeat, which is scheduled to debut Aug. 21.

John Ferri, a freelance writer based in Tacoma, Wash., contributed to this story.