Graham Mead, a former MD of Trinity Mirror Southern who has latterly been working as a consultant for the KM Group, will take up the role next month.

He said: "I am delighted to be joining KM at such a challenging and exciting time for the business and very much look forward to working with all teams across the business to plan for a successful future."

The group owns seven paid-for newspapers, including the Kent Messenger, nine free newspapers, eleven websites and eight radio stations across Kent.

KMG chairman Geraldine Allinson said: "We are looking forward to working with Graham on our plans for the company.

"He has strong commercial and strategic skills, and is accustomed to leading teams and businesses through significant change. He has experience in building open and communicative cultures with market-driven approaches to customer services and product development.

"He also has highly relevant experience of driving new revenue streams, particularly through the growth of digital revenues.

"We are in particularly challenging times and we need to steer a safe course through these and make sure we are prepared properly for when the economy recovers. Our integrated media strategy will be the key to this and Graham has the right experience to guide us."

Graham starts his new post on Tuesday 20 January 2009 and will be working closely with interim MD Chris Bisco to ensure a seamless handover.

Following the transition, Chris will continue to work with Graham and the management team in a supporting role.