Mike DeLuca was named president and group publisher of Hearst’s Connecticut Media Group, where he will oversee the business and news operations of 26 publications, including eight daily newspapers, 14 weeklies, four magazines and 21 websites.

DeLuca will report to Jeff Johnson, Hearst Newspapers president.  He succeeds Paul Barbetta, who will remain with the company.

Hearst’s Connecticut newspapers include the New Haven Register, Connecticut Post, Greenwich Time, Stamford Advocate, The Norwalk Hour, The Darien Times, Fairfield Citizen, New Canaan Advertiser, The Greater New Milford Spectrum, Westport News and Connecticut Magazine.

DeLuca has served as CEO of LocalEdge since 2013. The division of Hearst Media Services offers digital marketing services and directories businesses. He will continue to serve in this role, in addition to his new responsibilities.

He has previously served as executive vice president of advertising sales for Hearst Newspapers. Prior to joining Hearst, DeLuca held senior revenue management roles at Groupon, Yodle, Yahoo and EMC.

In October, Hearst Connecticut Media acquired seven weekly newspapers from Hersam Acorn Newspapers.

Last year, it entered into content partnerships with CTNewsJunkie.com and The Connecticut Mirror, a non-profit organization covering policy, government and politics in Connecticut.

Hearst Newspapers publishes 24 dailies and 60 weeklies, including The Houston Chronicle and San Francisco Chronicle.