Times Names 4 to Key Posts

The Los Angeles Times announced Thursday the appointments of three senior vice presidents and an assistant to Kathryn Downing, president and chief executive officer of The Times.

Bonnie Guiton Hill was named to the new position of senior vice president of community relations for The Times.

Richard W. Stanton, who has been assistant to The Times’ president and chief executive officer, has been named senior vice president and chief financial officer for the paper.

Julie K. Xanders, currently deputy general counsel for Times Mirror, The Times’ parent company, has been promoted to senior vice president and general counsel for The Times.

William R. Isinger, who has been the newspaper’s senior vice president of finance, has been named assistant to Downing.

Hill, 56, who has a doctorate in education and extensive experience in the public and private nonprofit sectors, will lead efforts to expand the impact of The Times’ public affairs programs. Hill will continue to serve as president and chief executive officer of The Times Mirror Foundation, a position she has held since joining Times Mirror in 1997. From 1992 through 1996, she served as dean and professor of commerce at the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce.

Mark Willes, publisher of The Times and chairman and chief executive officer of Times Mirror, said: “As a corporate citizen, we . . . play an important role in helping our community be all that it can be . . . under Bonnie’s leadership, we hope to broaden that role and be an even stronger agent for change and promoter of common understanding.”

Stanton, 58, joined The Times in February as assistant to the president and chief executive officer. He came to the newspaper from Mosby Matthew Bender, where he was vice president of editorial.

Xanders, 33, has served in her most recent position since January. She came to Times Mirror in 1993 as corporate counsel after four years with the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, where she was an associate attorney.

She was promoted to assistant general counsel in 1995 and associate general counsel in 1996.

William A. Niese, who has been both vice president and general counsel for The Times and Times Mirror, remains general counsel for Times Mirror.

Isinger, 51, joined The Times in 1992 as director of finance. He joined Times Mirror in 1975 as a senior corporate auditor.

“As I learn about the newspaper industry and The Times, Bill Isinger’s vast experience and keen insights are proving invaluable to me,” said Downing, who became the newspaper’s president and chief executive this month.