Orestes Baez has joined the Wisconsin Newspaper Association Board of Directors, accepting an appointment by WNA President Gregg Walker to fill an open seat.
Baez, who serves as regional president of southern Wisconsin for Adams Publishing Group, will fill one of the four daily newspaper seats on the WNA Board. He replaces Randy Rickman, who resigned after being named regional president for southern Minnesota at APG.
In his role as regional president, Baez oversees four daily newspapers — The (Janesville) Gazette, Beloit Daily News, Watertown Daily Times and (Fort Atkinson) Daily Jefferson County Union — and several weeklies. Rickman previously held a similar role overseeing northern Wisconsin.
Baez joined APG in August 2020, succeeding longtime Janesville newspaper executive Mary Jo Villa. He previously spent two years in Michigan as regional vice president and group publisher of a chain of Gannett-owned newspapers. He also has served as regional vice president of sales and general manager for the Greenville (S.C.) News and Asheville (N.C.) Citizen-Times, and held similar roles with The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla.
