Parks Is Named Times Executive Vice President

Michael Parks, senior vice president and editor of The Times, has been promoted to executive vice president of the newspaper, Publisher Mark H. Willes announced Tuesday.

Parks, 54, will continue serving as editor of the newspaper.

“This promotion is about two things: the kind of visionary journalist and leader that Michael is, and how fundamentally important ongoing journalistic excellence is to our future growth,” Willes said. “In Michael Parks, The Times has the kind of editor who holds fast to the traditional journalistic values that earn readers’ trust, while also redefining what it means to be a relevant, compelling newspaper for today and tomorrow. We are fortunate to have a person of his talent and integrity leading The Times’ journalistic mission.”

Parks joined The Times in 1980 as Beijing bureau chief after a 12-year career with the Baltimore Sun, which included assignments in Hong Kong, the Middle East, Beijing and Vietnam.

At The Times, Parks spent 15 years as a foreign correspondent in China, the then-Soviet Union, Israel and South Africa.

In 1987 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for international reporting for his coverage of South Africa.

Parks was named deputy foreign editor of The Times in 1995 and managing editor a year later. He was named editor of The Times in October.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in classical languages and English from the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada.