The E.W. Scripps Company has promoted Shanna Cannon, a newspaper executive with more than 20 years of experience, to regional publisher of the Ventura County (California) Star, effective immediately.
She steps up to a larger-circulation newspaper from her role as publisher of the Scripps-owned Record Searchlight in Redding, California.
"Since rejoining Scripps in 2006, Shanna has had great success in leading our award-winning newspaper in Redding," said Tim Stautberg, senior vice president of Scripps newspapers. "She is creative and energetic and understands the importance of delivering compelling products and services for our news consumers that also serve as a marketplace to connect advertisers with current and prospective customers."
During her tenure in Redding, the newspaper earned numerous state and national awards in newswriting and photography. In 2011 Redding.com won first place in the best website category in the California Newspaper Publishers Association Better Newspapers Awards.
"I'm eager to engage with the staff and the communities we serve to better understand the needs of our employees, our readers and our advertisers," said Cannon. "This is an exciting opportunity to work with a talented group of people who desire to make every aspect of a customer's interaction with us just a little bit better."
From 2003 to 2006 Cannon served as president and publisher of The Garden Island in Kauai, Hawaii. Before that she spent eight years with Pulitzer, Inc. in various leadership roles. For two of those years she was general manager of Santa Maria Times in Santa Maria, California.
Her first stint with a Scripps newspaper was in the 1990s, when she worked as the national and major accounts manager for the Telegram-Tribune in San Luis Obispo, California.
Cannon grew up in California's central coast region and attended Allen Hancock College, majoring in psychology and international relations.
She has a passion for each of the communities she's been proud to call home and is looking forward to exploring all Ventura County has to offer with her husband of 18 years, Chad, and her 4-year-old twin boys.
The search for her successor in Redding will begin immediately.
