News & Observer top editor Bill Church is leaving for a new post. ‘It has been a true pleasure.’

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Bill Church — who joined The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina)  and The Herald-Sun as executive editor in September 2021 and led the newsroom through the end of a pandemic, two national news events and a host of efforts aimed at expanding the audience for local coverage — is leaving for a new post across the country.

Church will become executive editor of the Santa Fe New Mexican, a move that will take him back to a family-owned newspaper and place him and his wife, Darla, closer to children and grandchildren in Texas and Oregon.

Robyn Tomlin, chief news officer for The McClatchy Co., which owns The N&O, said the search for a new executive editor would begin immediately. She said Thad Ogburn, currently the newsroom’s managing editor, will serve as interim executive editor.

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