Two high profile Seattle Times employees will be leaving the newsroom, it was announced in an internal memo leaked tonight. Jim Simon, a 32-year veteran of the paper, who has held numerous positions at the paper, including managing editor, and most recently, senior editor for enterprise, is leaving for a Hawaii nonprofit, Honolulu Civil Beat. And Matt Doig, the investigations editor, who arrived six months ago to take over long-time editor, Jim Neff, is departing to take a job at the Los Angeles Times in a similar role.

The Times is expected to lay off more than two dozen people at the end of this week. Several prominent departures have already been announced, including Lindsey Wasson and Matt Pentz and Mark Watanabe.

The full memo below:

Two additional departures

Michele Matassa Flores

Wed 2/1/2017 4:44 PM

To:

News - All Employees;

Hi everyone,

I’m very sorry to have to announce two additional departures from The Seattle Times.

After a remarkable 32-year career here, Jim Simon has accepted a job as Managing Editor of Honolulu Civil Beat, a growing nonprofit news website started several years ago by Pierre Omidyar, the philanthropist who founded eBay. Jim came here in 1985 as an East Bureau reporter and worked as a political reporter, environmental reporter and magazine writer before turning to editing. He went on to become metro editor, AME, managing editor and senior editor for enterprise and projects, raising the level of our work throughout the newsroom. I could list the big prizes he’s helped us win, but it’s his big heart and thoughtful way that stand out. For so many of us, Jim is a mentor, a friend and our Journalist in Chief. He’ll leave a big hole in the newsroom. In his new job, Jim will help lead a staff focused on public affairs, investigative and enterprise reporting. The move also brings him and his wife, Lori, closer to her parents in Hawaii. Jim’s last day will be Feb. 24. More to come on a sendoff for him.
 
By bad luck of timing, Matt Doig is also leaving us after only six months here. Matt was just settling in to the job and Seattle, even helping his parents move here to be close by, when he got an offer from the L.A. Times that he couldn’t turn down. He will run their investigative team and work with reporters and editors across the organization, including a 20-person bureau in Washington, D.C. We’re still working out Matt’s last day as he shepherds a few stories toward publication.

We’ve already begun the search for a new investigative editor and hope to make a high-caliber hire as quickly as we can. In the meantime, the I-team will report directly to me. We don’t plan to replace Jim immediately and will look instead to divide up his responsibilities among sensenior staffers. Laura Gordon and I will team up to oversee planning for the Sunday paper.
 
I know these are hard times for the newsroom, and I’m not going to try to sugarcoat that. I would encourage you, though, to look around and take stock of the great talent all around you, and the energy and passion that still make this place special. We can and will continue to do great work.

Mich