SEATTLE — Seattle Times executive editor Michele Matassa Flores announced newsroom leadership changes today. After nearly 30 years with The Times, managing editor Lynn Jacobson will retire in April.

Jacobson has held many roles in her accomplished career ranging from features editor to morning editor to her current role leading the day-to-day news operation. She became managing editor in 2021 and has overseen an expansion of the reporting staff, new initiatives to cover mental health and climate change, and coverage of big news events from the region’s COVID recovery to a Boeing door-plug blowout to recent weather events. Jacobson has been instrumental in the newsroom’s strong digital growth, which will allow The Times to be a sustainable news organization for many decades to come. In an announcement to the newsroom, Matassa Flores said Jacobson “brought keen news judgment, compassion, a finely tuned moral compass, and an insistence on putting readers at the center of everything we do.”

Matassa Flores has named Matt Canham the next managing editor. He joined The Times in 2021 as an assistant managing editor and was promoted to deputy managing editor in 2023. He has overseen metro news coverage including breaking news, politics, transportation, and health, as well as philanthropically funded teams focused on education, homelessness, mental health and climate. Announcing his promotion, Matassa Flores remarked on “his sharp news judgment, deep editing experience and thoughtful approach to nurturing a collaborative, inclusive newsroom culture.”

Publisher Ryan Blethen shared, “I have been fortunate to work closely with Lynn and Matt during the past several years. Lynn has proven to be a fantastic newsroom leader always ready with levelheaded advice and a firm command of what it takes to run the day-to-day operation of a modern newsroom. It will be strange not seeing her glide through the newsroom after working with her for more than a decade.“ I am excited for Matt and the newsroom. He is a strong journalist who is primed to do great things helping guide the newsroom with Michele.”