PERSONS.

Executive suite: At Morris Communications of Augusta, Ga., Jonathan Payne has been named director of technical operations; previously he had been the director of information technology at Nutrasweet. ... At the New York Times Co., R. Anthony Benten has been named a vice president, in addition

to retaining his title as treasurer. Benton joined the company in 1989 as a financial analyst and started his career at Deloitte & Touche. ... At Landmark Communications Inc. of Norfolk, Va., Charlie Watkins has been named president and chief executive officer of the company's Continental VisiNet Broadband subsidiary; previously he had been vice president for new ventures and corporate development. Watkins has been with Landmark since 2000 and earlier worked for Duke Energy. Succeeding Watkins is Michael Alston, who had been general manager of the new media arm of The Virginian-Pilot; a 14-year Landmark veteran, he has worked mostly in corporate development. Succeeding Alston is Tina Gill, who had been classifieds' manager of Pilot Interactive Media. Also at Landmark's Continental subsidiary, Owen Griffin has been named vice president and chief operating officer; he had previously run the division. ...

Publishers: At the International Herald Tribune in Paris, Michael Golden has been named publisher; he retains his titles as vice chairman and senior vice president of the New York Times Co. Golden is the cousin of NYT's chairman, Arthur Sulzberger Jr. ... At Ohio's Logan Daily News, Mark Hartman has been named publisher; he retains his role as editor of the paper. Hartman has been with the paper since 1996. ... At the Messenger-Inquirer of Owensboro, Ky., Robert Childress has been named publisher; previously he had been publisher of the Danville Register & Bee in Virginia. Earlier in his career, Childress was a circulation executive throughout Tennessee and Virginia and was publisher of the Mountain Press in Sevierville, Tenn., for a decade. ... In Wisconsin, at Conley Media (Waukesha Freeman, Washington County Daily News, et al.), Roger Coleman has been named president; previously he had been publisher of The Independent in Ashland, Ky. Earlier in his career, Coleman spent 25 years at the Kane County Chronicle in Illinois. ...

Editors: At the Quad-City Times of Davenport, Iowa, Jan Touney has been named managing editor; previously she was associate editor of Illinois' Decatur Herald & Review, where she had also served as city editor, features editor, copy editor and reporter. ... At Iowa's Muscatine Journal, Jeff Tecklenburg has been named editor; previously he had been assistant managing editor of the Quad-City Times. Earlier in his career, Tecklenburg had been managing editor of the Journal and had worked as a journalist throughout Iowa. ... At New Mexico's Las Cruces Sun-News, Jim Lawitz has been named editor; previously he head been managing editor of the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group in suburban Los Angeles. Earlier in his career, Lawitz has worked as a journalist at newspapers and radio stations in Alaska, Arizona and California. ...

Front office: At the northern division of the California Newspaper Partnership (MediaNews, Gannett, Stephens; Oakland Tribune, et al.), Bob Wellman has been named chief financial officer; previously he had been with Intel Corp. and earlier in his career had been with The McClatchy Co. ...

Pennsylvania papers: At the Butler Eagle, Andy Lefcowitz has been named marketing director; previously he was circulation manager at the Latrobe Bulletin. Earlier in his career, Lefcowitz held advertising, marketing and circulation executive positions at papers through the state. ... At The Reporter of Lansdale, Pa., Charles Zar has been named circulation director; previously he had been circulation manager. From 1984 to 2002, Zar was with the Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. ... At Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. (Inquirer, Daily News), Howard Griffin has been named vice president of display advertising; previously he had been vice president and corporate ad director of Journal Register Co. Earlier in his carrier, Griffin was an advertising and marketing executive at the Honolulu Newspaper Agency, the Chicago Sun-Times and at California's Orange County Register. ... At The Mercury in Pottstown, Pa., Myra Ward has been named circulation director; previously she had held the same job in Lansdale. ... At the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa., Robert Nay has been named advertising director; previously he had been an advertising executive at North Carolina's Charlotte Observer (both are Knight Ridder papers). Earlier in his career, Nay held senior advertising management positions at papers in Texas, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida. ... At The Herald-Standard in Uniontown, Mike Ellis has retired as executive editor; he'd held the post since 1987. Ellis is starting a video news service in Latrobe. ... At the York Dispatch and Sunday News, Marc Charisse has been named managing editor; he had been the assistant managing editor for Sunday. In addition to six years teaching college journalism, Charisse has worked as a journalist in Florida, Nevada and Colorado. ... # >ET