Philip Inman, who was last week axed as Northcliffe's North East and Midlands managing director in a company restructure, has been appointed managing director of Express & Star publisher the Midland News Association.
Inman will formally take over from Alan Harris on 1 January, 2012, but will join the company on 5 September.
Harris, who is due to retire at the end of March next year, has agreed to continue as a non-executive director for another year after standing down as MD.
Inman said: 'Express & Star and Shropshire Star are exceptionally strong brands, at the very heart of the communities they serve.
'This is a challenging time for regional media businesses, given the difficult economic situation and structural changes in markets.
'The conditions have hastened the pace of change in the business, which is necessary, if sometimes uncomfortable."
In April it was announced that MNA planned to cut around 90 of its 900-strong workforce – and earlier this month it emerged the company was pushing ahead with compulsory redundancies.
On 9 June journalists at MNA title the Shropshire Star voted to hold a strike ballot in response to the cuts.
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