• Editor & Publisher, Wednesday, February 11, 2009 9:30 AM

Mark Willes, the former General Mills president known for unprecedented cutbacks at the Los Angeles Times, will become CEO of the Mormon Church-owned Deseret News. Willes will head Deseret Management Corp., parent for the News in Salt Lake City, Utah, a television station and other for-profit enterprises owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Willes, 67, replaces Rodney H. Brady, 76, who is retiring. To many in the newsrooms of the LAT and its sibling newspapers, Willes was a polarizing figure. He shut down Newsday in New York and the Evening Sun in Baltimore. He also shrank the workforce by more than 2,000, downsized circulation and grew advertising at a pace greater than peer newspapers.

Most recently, Willes was in the industry news when his name popped up in the bankruptcy filing for the Tribune Co., which bought the LA Times in 2000. Willes is still owed $11.2 million in retirement and deferred compensation, according to the list of unsecured creditors.

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