Stephen Parker, managing director of Trinity Mirror's regional newspaper division, is to step down from his role at the end of the month.

In a company statement Trinity Mirror said the newspaperman would resign as a director on July 26 and leave the company by mutual agreement.

It is understood he will take a short break to determine his next move.

Stephen (pictured) has been involved in leading the business for the past 20 years, and joined the board of Trinity Mirror in 1993.

In September 1999 he was appointed executive director of regional newspapers (North), and was appointed managing director a year later.

Prior to joining the Trinity Mirror board, Stephen was managing director of Trinity Weekly Newspapers and before that was assistant managing director commercial at the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

From 1982 to 1985 he worked for Thomson Regional Newspapers as group circulation executive and general circulation manager at the Western Mail and Echo.

Stephen is also the current president of The Newspaper Society.

He said: "I have really enjoyed my time at Trinity Mirror and am proud of what I, and the businesses I have led, have achieved.

"From overseeing the integration of the Scottish and Universal Newspapers acquisition in the early Nineties through to the building of Trinity Mirror plc via acquisition and merger, it has been a challenging, exciting, demanding and personally very rewarding experience."

For the immediate future Trinity Mirror chief executive Sly Bailey will assume direct responsibility for the regionals division, which publishes newspapers such as the Birmingham Post, Birmingham Evening Mail, Liverpool Daily Post, Liverpool Echo, Huddersfield Daily Examiner, Western Mail and South Wales Echo.

Sly said: "I would like to thank Stephen for his tremendous dedication, application and achievement in his time with the company.

"He has been involved in leading the business over the last 20 years, as it has grown from being a small provincial publisher into the UK's largest newspaper publisher."

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