Mark Ficarra leaving as RJ publisher, chief revenue officer

Mark Ficarra is leaving the Las Vegas Review-Journal as publisher and chief revenue officer.

Kirk Davis, CEO of GateHouse Media, which on March 18 closed on the purchase of the newspaper and parent Stephens Media Group, made the announcement Thursday.

Davis said Ficarra would like to pursue other opportunities beyond the Review-Journal.

“It’s conceivable that he will do some consulting work for us in the future,” Davis said in a letter. “We are exploring that. Given that there are so many revenue initiatives we’re working on, we would welcome the continuity and have therefore expressed our desire to retain him.”

Ficarra joined the R-J as chief revenue officer in January 2014. He was named publisher in September and will remain in that position through April 16. He will continue part time as chief revenue officer through May 15.

“I’m real excited about the opportunity GateHouse brings to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and all its affiliated products,” Ficarra said in a statement. “I will continue to work with the folks at GateHouse and the R-J staff through this transition. We have a fantastic group of people (at the R-J), and a great community in Las Vegas. It’s been an honor to be a part of it.”

Davis said he has begun a search for a new publisher. He plans to announce an interim publisher on April 9 at the newspaper.

Before joining the Review-Journal in January 2014, Ficarra was regional vice president of sales and marketing for the Denver Post and other Digital First Media sites in Colorado, New Mexico and Texas.

Previously, he was vice president of sales and marketing for the San Diego Union-Tribune and publisher of daily newspapers in Long Beach and Torrance in California.

GateHouse Media is the operating arm of New Media Investment Group of New York.

New Media operates 125 daily newspapers — 9 percent of the nation’s 1,380 dailies — and more than 500 community and niche publications in more than 415 markets nationwide.

It is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange as NEWM.

The Review-Journal, Nevada’s largest media outlet, is New Media’s largest newspaper, with a Sunday circulation of 184,000 and an average of 10.5 million monthly Web page views.

In addition to the R-J, New Media in Nevada owns the Pahrump Valley Times, the Tonopah Times-Bonanza, the Boulder City Review, El Tiempo, Luxury magazine, the View newspapers and the Las Vegas Business Press.