Our announcement last week that we were restructuring the management team resulted in a short story at the bottom of the Hawai'i section with names, faces and contact numbers of our managers and a brief description of what they would be doing.

I wanted to explain in further detail why these seven people are so crucial to what you are going to be seeing in The Advertiser and on www.honoluluadvertiser.com.

As we've reported, The Advertiser and many other newspapers are undergoing a radical transformation. As good as the newspaper is — and we're pushing to make it better — we know a growing number of readers want their news online.

For the past seven-plus years, our Web site has grown substantially and it is now the No. 5 site (out of about 90 sites) within Gannett Co. Inc. It is easily the No. 1 news site in Hawai'i.

To keep it there, we have to shift resources to do more than just put out the daily newspaper. We have to post breaking news online around the clock. We have to develop video. We have to provide even more local news than before, in print and online. There's much more to come out, but we can't give away all our secrets just yet.

We've divided the newsroom into two sections. The first is content, which is basically all the words we produce each day in metro, business, Island Life, opinion and sports sections. The second is digital, which is how we deliver the words online or in print, and multimedia, which consists of video, photos and graphics.

Most news organizations have one managing editor. But because each of these areas is so important, we have a managing editor to head each effort.

Marsha McFadden is the clear choice to run the content side of the newsroom. Her skills lie in editing stories, generating story ideas, organizing big projects and leading a large group of editors and reporters. McFadden has worked here for 10 years as an assistant city editor, city editor and assistant managing editor. A South Carolina native, she has also worked at the San Antonio Express-News, The Monterey County Herald in California and the Clovis News Journal in New Mexico. She was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University in 1995 and received a Gannett newsroom Supervisors Recognition Award in 2005.

When it comes to the world of new media, Sandra Oshiro, a 31-year Advertiser veteran, has long been ahead of the rest of us, so her promotion to managing editor for digital and multimedia is a natural next step and play into her talents as someone who sees far into the future. She oversaw the startup of www.honoluluadvertiser.com in 1999 and has served as assistant managing editor, business editor, editorial writer and assistant city editor. A Farrington High graduate, Oshiro attended the University of Hawai'i and Columbia University, where she earned a master's degree in journalism. She is a founding member of the Hawai'i chapter of the Asian American Journalism Association and a recipient of a Fulbright Journalism Fellowship in Japan.

Oshiro will work with Seth Jones, our new multimedia editor, and Steve Petranik, our 24-7 news editor.

Jones graduated from The Ohio State University before taking his first job as a photographer in Washington, D.C., with a news photo agency. He has been a reporter, copy editor and city editor at newspapers in New York and New Jersey. After running an international marketing firm, he became photo director at the New York Post. Seth joined The Advertiser in 1998 as director of photography. He will manage photography, video and graphics, but perhaps his greatest asset is jumping on news quickly and efficiently.

Petranik has worked as an editor and reporter for newspapers, news services and television for 30 years, including the past two decades in Hawai'i. Before joining The Advertiser in 2004, he was news editor at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin. The University of Toronto graduate worked at news organizations in Canada, China and Florida. His new job will be to keep our Web site fresh and updated all day and to put out the print edition the following morning. In his new job just a few days, Petranik already is bursting with ideas and has the Web site looking newsier than ever.

McFadden will work with David Butts, our local news editor, and Stephen Downes, who will lead our database and special projects.

Butts has 25 years of journalism experience, including five years at The Advertiser. The graduate of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., has lived in Japan for 13 years and speaks Japanese. In Tokyo, he was managing editor-Asia for Bloomberg News from 1991 to 1998, supervising 300 editors and reporters. He also worked as Tokyo bureau chief for United Press International. Butts will run a combined desk of city and business reporters to provide more local news.

Downes has been with The Advertiser since 1993, serving as a page designer, graphics editor, design editor and assistant managing editor. Previously he worked as a copy editor and a news editor at The Anchorage Times and The San Diego Union-Tribune. He graduated from Damien Memorial High School and has a bachelor's degree in journalism from Marquette University. Downes distinguished himself this year running our series on the homeless along the Wai'anae Coast, which has drawn tremendous reaction.

Continuing to lead The Advertiser's dialogue with the community is Jeanne Mariani-Belding, our editorial and opinion editor, who has overall responsibility for the section you are holding in your hands. A Maryknoll School graduate who was born and raised here, Mariani-Belding earned her journalism degree from Pepperdine University. She was a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University in 2003 focusing on international business.

Prior to joining The Advertiser, she was deputy editor at the San Jose Mercury News. She also worked as a senior editor, projects editor, reporter, editorial writer and columnist at newspapers in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. She is the national president of the Asian American Journalists Association.

Mariani-Belding's innovative and interactive project called The Hot Seat has drawn great response, and she has exciting ideas solidifying The Advertiser as the premier marketplace of ideas and discussion.

This is the perfect team at the perfect time to take The Advertiser and www.honoluluadvertiser.com to the next level.