Other AAN papers lose top managers

Michael Sigman, president/publisher of LA Weekly/OC Weekly has been asked to leave by David Schneiderman, the CEO of Village Voice Media.

” I’ve been doing this job in one form or another for nearly 20 years, and [Schneiderman] has let me know that he feels it’s time for a change,” Sigman writes in an e-mail to all staff. “I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished over the years in bringing something unique and necessary to our readers, our advertisers and our city. I’m equally proud and honored to have helped create an extraordinary working environment with a staff full of the most amazing people I’ve ever known.

Sigman says his last day will be Friday, Jan. 25.

LA and OC Weekly are members of the Village Voice Media group, which also includes The Village Voice, City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul), Seattle Weekly, the Cleveland Free Times and the Nashville Scene.

In the past week other AAN papers have let go top managers, including: Willamette Week, where Russ Martineau, vice-president of sales and marketing, was let go; Eugene Weekly, where Publisher Sonja Snyder was asked to leave; and C*Ville Weekly, where Hawes Spencer, editor and part-owner, was removed.

Martineau and Snyder were both members of the AAN Board and have resigned. Martineau has been replaced as president of AAN by Vice-President Bill Towler of City Newspaper in Rochester, N.Y. Jane Levine, publisher of Chicago Reader, was appointed vice president.