Kathy Thomson to step down as president and COO of L.A. Times

Kathy Thomson, the president and chief operating officer of the Los Angeles Times, announced that she is leaving the newspaper at the end of this month.

In an email to the staff, Thomson said she is departing for “another challenging opportunity” but did not provide details.

Thomson oversees the newspaper’s editorial, advertising sales, business services and marketing units.

In April, Tribune Co., parent of The Times, named Thomson to the newly created position of chief operating officer of the company’s publishing division.

Thomson has managed the effort to expand digital products and the use of video at The Times, the Chicago Tribune and Tribune Co.’s six other daily newspapers.

“There is much promise on the road ahead,” Thomson wrote in her email. “Our journalism is read more now than at any time in our 131-year history. Our readers and advertisers rely on us to inform, delight, engage and entertain throughout each day.”

In a note to Times employees, Eddy Hartenstein, publisher and chief executive of The Times, praised Thomson for her “countless contributions.”

“She has led the Times with grace and determination through the last several years and will be greatly missed,” Hartenstein wrote.

Thomson previously was vice president of business operations for FLO TV Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Inc.

She was chief of staff at The Times from September 2008 to 2009. She returned to the paper in May 2011.

She also worked for 15 years at satellite television company DirecTV, where she rose to senior vice president of sales and marketing.

Her last day at The Times is Nov. 29.

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