Former Wisconsin journalist Kate Franco has been named executive editor of The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Arizona, where she has worked for the last 23 years, the newspaper announced Monday.
A native of the Milwaukee area, Franco earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UW-Madison before serving as an editor at newspapers in La Crosse, Wis.; Winona, Minn., and Newport, R.I.
Franco started her tenure at The Desert Sun in 2000 as an assistant news editor, earning a promotion to the news editor spot a few months later. Her roles have included leading the features department and overseeing Desert Magazine and Desert Outlook magazine.
She was promoted to managing editor in 2019, leading The Desert Sun’s news coverage of the valley’s communities, city governments, schools, agencies, events and festivals, and the pandemic shutdowns and subsequent return to non-pandemic life.
