Executive team named for So Cal News Group to lead the Orange County Register

Southern California News Group, a new division of Digital First Media, announced a new executive team Friday as it took ownership of The Orange County Register and The Press-Enterprise.

Ron Hasse is the company’s president and publisher, Frank Pine is executive editor, Tom Kelly is chief revenue officer and senior vice president of advertising, and Dan Scofield is chief financial officer and chief operations officer of the Southern California News Group.

The four executives will oversee day-to-day operations of the Register and The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, as well as nine other Southern California newspapers and websites, weekly publications, magazines and digital products.

They previously managed Digital First Media’s Los Angeles News Group (LANG), which has been renamed Southern California News Group.

Hasse started with Digital First in 1990 as circulation manager for the Los Angeles Daily News and has held a variety of sales and operations roles.

Pine, a longtime journalist in Southern California, most recently worked as director of audience development at Digital First Media and managing editor of digital news for LANG.

Kelly has sold advertising and managed sales staffs for The Orange County Register as well as the Los Angeles Times and the Los Angeles Daily News.

Scofield started with Digital First in 2008 and has been chief financial officer since 2012. He previously held financial management positions in media, entertainment and the Internet real estate industry.

“We have exceptional leadership and talented colleagues in Orange County and the Inland Empire who are excited about working together to serve our communities and grow as trusted sources of local information,” Hasse said.

Contact the writer: local@ocregister.com