EDITOR – Business Journal Editor Departing for Forbes

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Business Journal Editor Mark Lacter, who has instituted numerous changes at the paper that have won national recognition, will be stepping down at the end of the week to take a position at Forbes magazine.

With Publisher and President Matthew A. Toledo at his side, Lacter announced his plans last Monday to about two dozen Business Journal editors and reporters.

While noting that it was difficult to leave the paper, he said he wanted to return to writing. “I’ve been jealous of all you folks getting out and working on interesting stories about interesting people,” he said. “This is a great time to be reporting about business and I felt that the time was right.”

At Forbes, Lacter will be a writer in the Los Angeles bureau.

No successor was named. Toledo said he will be conducting an intensive search in the coming weeks.

During the interim period, the paper’s two deputy managing editors, Michael Stremfel and Dan Turner, will run editorial operations.

“I’m proud of the many contributions that Mark has made to the paper and of the solid foundation he has established,” said Toledo. “At the same time, we have built a team of very talented editors and reporters who can maintain the high standards that Mark has established.”

Lacter, who joined the Business Journal in 1996, instituted a major redesign of the paper, as well as the introduction of weekly sections on small business, media and technology, investments and finance, and just last fall, a feature section called Style. He also broadened the scope of the paper, going beyond the typical features of a business journal with such special issues as “A Day in the Life of Los Angeles,” in which reporters were sent out over a single day to chronicle various aspects of L.A. business activity.

The paper has won a variety of national and local journalism awards, including being named one of the nation’s five best business weeklies for two consecutive years by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. Last year, the Business Journal also was named the nation’s best regional business weekly by the Association of Area Business Publications.

“This has been a real labor of love,” said Lacter. “I’m very grateful to a hard-working staff and especially to our publisher, who had the confidence in letting me do my thing each week.”

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