Los Angeles--The Los Angeles Times has announced that Russ Stanton will step down as its executive vice president and editor on Dec. 23. Davan Maharaj will succeed him. Maharaj has served as managing editor for news at The Times since May 2008, overseeing the foreign, national, metro, sports and business departments.
 

Maharaj becomes the 15th editor of The Times. He joined the company in 1989, working as a reporter in Orange County, Los Angeles and East Africa. His six-part series “Living on Pennies,” in collaboration with Times photographer Francine Orr, won the 2005 Ernie Pyle Award for Human Interest Writing and inspired readers to donate tens of thousands of dollars to aid agencies working in Africa. Closer to home, Maharaj's investigative report about a probate attorney who inherited millions of dollars in stock, land and other "gifts" from his clients led to changes in California probate law.

Maharaj also served as an assistant foreign editor and was appointed business editor in 2007. During that time, he revamped the organization’s business coverage, giving greater emphasis to consumer issues and personal finances.  Following his appointment as managing editor in 2008, Maharaj worked with Stanton to help transform The Times newsroom into a fully-staffed, 24-hour operation, delivering news across multiple platforms including digital, mobile, video and print.       

During Stanton’s tenure as editor, The Times grew its digital audience significantly; it now reaches more than 17 million unique readers every month. Under Stanton’s leadership, The Times won three Pulitzer Prizes, including the 2011 Public Service Award for its coverage of political corruption in the city of Bell, Calif.