The Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal, which make up Pacific Community Media, are pleased to announce a few structural changes that will better reflect the duties of the current leadership staff and the mission of both publications’ business and editorial departments.

David Sommers, formerly publisher of both publications, has been promoted to chief operating officer of Pacific6, the parent company of Pacific Community Media. As COO of Pacific6, Sommers will no longer have involvement in any editorial decisions or coverage planning, but will remain involved in long-term financial planning and corporate operations as a member of the Pacific Community Media board of directors.

Melissa Evans, formerly managing editor, will become executive editor of both publications, with final say over all editorial decisions. Jeremiah Dobruck will take on the role of managing editor, overseeing editorial coverage of the Post, and Hayley Munguia will continue in her role as editor of the Long Beach Business Journal.

Dennis Dean will continue as director of product and operations for the Post and LBBJ, as well as overseeing StudioLBP, our full service production and marketing arm. And Andrea Estrada remains as director of advertising, leading our business side and steering our revenue strategy.

And finally, the newest member of the leadership team is Sebastian Echeverry, who began as a reporter in May 2020, but has now been promoted to director of membership. His primary job is tending to our audience, which includes addressing concerns that readers have and organizing events that bring our readers into the newsroom.

The Post and Business Journal are committed to maintaining a clear separation between the business and editorial operations; this is one of the core ethical principles that we take very seriously.

We believe news coverage should always be free of conflicts of interest and be driven only by the principles of fairness, integrity, accountability and transparency so that we can put the interests held by you—our readers, members and broader Long Beach community—above all else.

To read more about our history, ownership and to see our full ethics policy, please click here.