NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.—Gannett Co. Inc. has named William C. "Skip" Hidlay president and publisher of two central New Jersey newspapers.
Hidlay will lead the Courier News of Bridgewater and the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick, Thomas M. Donovan, vice president of Gannett's East Newspaper Group, announced Tuesday.
Hidlay had been serving as acting publisher and president of the two papers since late March. He was executive editor and vice president for news at the Asbury Park Press until the promotion. All three newspapers are owned by Gannett Co. Inc., which owns six daily papers in New Jersey.
"I look forward to working closely with the staff of the Courier News and the Home News Tribune as they produce high-impact local news coverage and comprehensive advertising information to help local businesses and their customers," Hidlay said.
Hidlay replaces Ketan Gandhi, who left the position in March. He had been the president and publisher of the Home News Tribune and the Courier News since 2005 and 2007, respectively.
Hidlay has worked in journalism for more than 28 years, starting at his hometown newspaper, the Press-Enterprise in Bloomsburg, Pa., as a reporter in 1980 after graduating from Syracuse University.
He worked at the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer-Times and then The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer before joining The Associated Press in 1986. Over the next decade, he was a reporter, supervising editor and news editor in Chicago; New York; Portland, Maine; Hartford, Conn. and Miami, Fla.
Hidlay, 49, joined Gannett in May 1996, as managing editor of the Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, where he became executive editor in August 1997.
In 2002, Hidlay was promoted to the top editing post at the Asbury Park Press.
Gary Schoening, managing editor at Asbury Park, will continue to run daily news operations there, Donovan said.
