Posted Feb. 1, 2008

Hollis Towns

Hollis Towns, executive editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer, has been elected to the leadership of the Associated Press Managing Editors Association.

During a weekend meeting that ended Monday in New York, directors of the association's governing board chose Towns to chair the group's Journalism Today committees. The selection placed him in position to become president in 2011.

Also during the meeting, Otis Sanford, editor of opinion and editorials at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., became secretary, putting him in line to become president in 2010. Sanford replaced Steve Sidlo, publisher of the Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun, who resigned for family reasons.

Towns, 44, has been a member of the APME board for three years. During that time he twice chaired the contest committee and also directed the student conference and mentoring program.

Since May 2004 Towns has led a newsroom of more than 200 people at the Enquirer. Last year the newspaper was awarded a Gannett Gold Medal, the company's highest honor for journalism and public service.

Towns previously was managing editor of the Kalamazoo (Mich.) Gazette and worked as a reporter at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Director Andrew Oppmann, vice president of audience management at The Tennessean in Nashville, Tenn., was elected to represent the association on the board of the APME Foundation, which supports APME programs.