New managing editor is looking ahead to great stories in the year to come

To all our valued readers in Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin, Sherwood and the surrounding areas, let me begin with this  It's nice to meet you.

Oh sure, I've met some of you before  a lot of you, in fact  but given my new position here with the Beaverton Valley Times and The Times, introductions are probably in order.

So, for those of you I haven't yet had the pleasure of meeting, let me take the first step  my name is Miles Vance, and as of Jan. 6, I am the new editor for both the Valley Times and The Times.

Let me continue by telling you all a little bit about myself. While I am new to my job as editor, I am hardly new anywhere else. I'm well on my way to turning 53, I am coming off a 20-month stint as sports editor at the Beaverton Leader, and before that, I spent more than 18 years as the sports editor at the Valley Times.

Before even that, I spent seven years covering news and sports for the newspapers in St. Helens and Scappoose, and right of college at the University of Portland, another two years writing news and features for a couple small papers in Hollywood and Gateway.

In total, I've spent my entire professional life  about 28 years in all to date  working for newspapers in Northwest Oregon. In case my personal history doesn't make it clear, I love newspapers, I love sports and I love where I live – like most of you, in the beautiful, energetic, comfortable, mostly suburban southeast corner of Washington County that includes Beaverton, Tigard, Tualatin and Sherwood.

But I'm fortunate to have lots of other loves in my life, first and foremost my wife of almost 23 years, my two high school-age kids, and my church and its attendant community and mission. I also love photography of all kinds (but especially sports), history, politics, music and  fortunately for me  the people I work with.

Returning to Pamplin Media Group  the parent company of the Valley Times and The Times  in many ways marks a homecoming of sorts. It's a place I know well, it's a place that provides a comfortable work environment and allows employees to achieve, and it's a place filled with hard-working people who have made long-term commitments to providing news and advertising to the readers and businesses within our communities.

One of the other things I value about Pamplin Media Group is its commitment to the tradition of printed newspapers. Sure, we value our digital audience greatly and we must continue to evolve and serve that ever-growing segment of our readership better each week, but PMG also allows us to serve the readers and advertisers that still want to see the printed word on paper.

And that, finally, brings me to the single most valuable asset I have as I begin this new job – you. You, the readers of our papers, are not only the main subjects of our weekly publications, you're much, much more.

You are the information pipeline that lets us know what's going on in our communities. You're the ones who read our stories and let us know when we've done something well and that you'd like to see again. Sometimes you're the ones who call or email to tell us what we've missed or who else we should have talked to or how we could have written our stories better. You are also the folks who advertise in our papers, do business in our communities and provide the financial lifeblood for both.

So please, tell me what you like, tell me what you don't. Share your story ideas, tips and questions, and help us, week after week after week, to make great newspapers.

You can reach me at [email protected] or 503-330-0127, or you can go directly to our reporters:

 Beaverton's Eric Apalategui at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ;

 Tigard's Geoff Pursinger at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ;

 Tualatin's Caitlin Feldman at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ;

 Sherwood's Ray Pitz at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ;

 Matt Singledecker in Beaverton sports at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ;

 Dan Brood in Tigard, Tualatin and Sherwood sports at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .