The Sacramento Bee on Wednesday named Scott Lebar, a longtime editor at the newspaper who most recently has overseen its news investigations, as managing editor.
Current Managing Editor Tom Negrete moves to the newly created role of managing innovation and news operations, Executive Editor Joyce Terhaar announced in the newsroom.
Lebar, 58, has been at The Bee since 1985 and has served in a series of editing positions, supervising coverage of virtually every department of the newspaper.
He has headed up The Bee's investigative team since 2011, overseeing probes of untested surgical procedures at the UC Davis Medical Center and ongoing revelations of problems in the construction of the new San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge span.
"Scott is a seasoned journalist who can handle everything from a sensitive investigation to a movie review," Terhaar said.
In announcing his appointment, she added, "It's reassuring to me that I will have someone in that job who shares my journalistic values."
Lebar began at The Bee in the features department, where he helped establish The Bee Book Club in 1997. He also has overseen the newsroom's internship programs, helping to draw interns from some of the nation's most prestigious journalism programs.
"I've been doing this for a long, long time, and I find joy in it every day," said Lebar, who is a Maryland native and graduate of George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
"How we provide news and information has changed and will continue to change – paper, digital, mobile, tablet, you name it. But the essence and the journalism – the core values of what we do – have not. I want to help us continue to provide the journalism that matters to the community, news that helps people understand their lives and helps them live better ones."
Lebar came to The Bee from the Baltimore News American.
His promotion comes as Negrete, 50, was tapped to fill a new post focusing on innovation to better serve readers and advertisers as The Bee and other McClatchy newsrooms broaden their Internet offerings.
Negrete, who began his career at The Bee as a newsroom aide, served in a number of positions on the city desk, as sports editor and assistant managing editor.
He will begin his new job Monday helping to launch a new production center for print and Web news for The Bee and two sister newspapers, the Modesto Bee and Merced Sun-Star.
He also will coordinate a research program with journalism and computer science faculty from Stanford University to seek innovation in serving readers and advertisers.
"It's been an honor and a privilege to call myself managing editor of The Bee," Negrete said, adding that he now plans to "aggressively get readers back on all formats of The Sacramento Bee."
Negrete, a California native, also has worked at the New York Times and Stockton Record. He has a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University.
"Tom has been passionate about readership issues and newspaper innovation for years, so this is an exciting opportunity for him," Terhaar said. "I'm glad to be able to create this kind of position in the newsroom."
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