DeLoach resigns as Times Free Press president

Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tenn.
·1 min read

Mar. 4—Jeff DeLoach, president of the Chattanooga Times Free Press for the past five years, has resigned as head of the Chattanooga Publishing Co.

Mark Lane, president of the newspaper division of WEHCO Media, Inc., which owns the Times Free Press, is acting as the interim president of the newspaper until a replacement is named. Lane said he will split his time between Chattanooga and Little Rock, Arkansas, where WEHCO is based, until the company hires the next president for the Times Free Press.

"We continue to be committed to Chattanooga, our readers, advertisers and employees," Lane said Friday. "We're extremely impressed with the quality of journalism that the Times Free Press covers in the local community. We know that we have a fantastic newspaper in Chattanooga."

He said the company will begin an immediate search for the next president.

"We are very blessed to have a very strong executive leadership team in Chattanooga," Lane said.

WEHCO Media Inc. operates daily and weekly newspapers, magazines, digital service agencies and cable television companies in six states. The company has been family-owned since its founding in 1909.

DeLoach, a 61-year-old native of Jackson, Tennessee, who has worked in the newspaper industry for the past four decades, succeeded Bruce Hartmann as head of the Times Free Press in 2017 when Hartmann took a job with the University of Tennessee Medical Center.

The Times Free Press publishes two monthly magazines, Chatter and Edge; a quarterly magazine, Get Out Chattanooga; and three community newspapers. WEHCO also operates Flypaper, a digital marketing agency, in Chattanooga.