• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, September 8, 2015

Stephen Hills will step down as president and general manager of The Washington Postat the end of the year, but will continue to serve in an advisory role, the company announced Tuesday.

Hills, who served at the Post in positions of increasing responsibility for almost three decades, said he plans to focus on new projects. Chief among these, he will become the founding director of the new Georgetown University Law Center Business Program, where he will create a curriculum and develop courses to mentor future business leaders.

With his departure, the newspaper will effectively do away with his old roles, dividing up the responsibilities associated with president and general manager to a number of other executives, who will take on additional responsibilities.

Many of his operational duties will now fall to CFO Steve Gibson, who is taking on a new role as vice president for finance and operations.

Hills joined the newspaper in 1987 as an ad sales rep, and worked his way up to the president and general manager by 2002, a position which he held for 13 years.

Hills’ departure comes two years after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos bought the newspaper from its longtime owner, The Washington Post Company, which was renamed Graham Holdings. Tthe company divested WaPo to focus on its Kaplan educational testing business, among other businesses.

Ben Bradlee, who served as editor-in-chief of the newspaper from 1968-1991 and oversaw its coverage of Watergate, earning iconic status, passed away last October at the age of 93.