The Times Herald-Record has appointed a new executive editor

Middletown — Derek Osenenko, the former editor of the Poughkeepsie Journal and more recently the chief of Gannett News Service, yesterday was named executive editor of the Times Herald-Record.

Joe Vanderhoof, Record president and publisher, made the announcement in a midday staff meeting with newsroom employees.

Osenenko, 52, replaces Mike Levine, longtime columnist and then editor, who died in January.

"I'm excited — I think this is going to be a great addition to the staff," Vanderhoof told employees.

"He is very community-minded," Vanderhoof said later. "It's all about local news. We're a community newspaper and that's where our responsibility lies.

Osenenko and his wife, Joanne, a banker, have a home in Woodstock. He begins full time at the paper Monday, where he will supervise 100 newsroom employees, including reporters, photographers, copy editors, designers and midlevel newsroom managers.

"I love the Hudson Valley. I call it home," said Osenenko, who was born in Queens and spent his childhood there.

Most of Osenenko's career has been with various Gannett newspapers in senior editing posts. Besides Poughkeepsie, they include Florida Today in Melbourne, Fla., and the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, N.J., outside Philadelphia.

Osenenko said his aim is to "know your readers and develop layers of strategies that reflect and serve the market you're in." He said new tools available to newspapers — digital and online resources — can boost the publication's immediacy and depth for readers.

Contact:

Ottaway Newspapers, Inc.
97 Route 416
PO Box 401
Campbell Hall, NY 10916

Ken Hall, Corporate Communications
845-346-3182