Josh O’Connor, publisher of The Daily Herald in Everett, has been appointed President/Publisher of Sound Publishing, which produces 42 titles in the state including the Federal Way Mirror.

He replaces Gloria Fletcher, who has left the company to become publisher of the Tulsa World and vice-president of the South Newspaper Group of Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway Media Group.

O’Connor, who stepped into his new role April 27, is now responsible for Sound Publishing operations statewide. He also will continue to be publisher of The Daily Herald.

He is in charge of the “continuing success of the media company” ensuring that its publications, including new digital products, are “healthy and robust” and deliver relevant local news to the communities they serve, O’Connor said.

Sound Publishing produces 42 community weeklies, dailies and bi-weeklies predominantly in Snohomish, King, Kitsap and Grays Harbor counties and the Olympic Peninsula.

O’Connor joined Sound Publishing’s parent company, Black Press Group Ltd., based in Surrey, B.C., as a sales executive in 1998. Successive promotions resulted in a series of management positions in Surrey, Richmond and Abbotsford, B.C., the company said. In 2007, he became publisher of the East Sound community newspaper group. In May 2013, he was named publisher of The Daily Herald.

“I’m excited about the new challenge,” O’Connor said. “I think there is a lot of hard work ahead of us but a bright future for journalism as we make sense of the ways our content can engage with the future.”

O’Connor, who lives with his family in Issaquah, is a contributor to many community organizations throughout Puget Sound.