A regional publisher has stated its aim to attract the “best digital talent in the industry” after poaching an editorial chief from a rival publisher.

National World has announced the appointment of Katie Brooks to the role of group live editor, where she will run a team focused on live trends and search engine optimisation content across the group’s regional titles.

Katie joins National World from fellow regional publisher Newsquest, where she was SEO and affiliates lead.

Her move comes amid a shake-up of senior management at National World that has led to a number of editors taking up new positions.

Katie, pictured, said: “I’m thrilled to have joined National World as group live editor working with titles across the business.

“With the support of a brilliant team I’m looking forward to building on the great work that’s already been done.”

Katie began her regional press career in October 2018 as a trends writer with Reach’s Birmingham Live website.

She joined Newsquest in March 2020, serving as regional audience and content editor for the Midlands, Somerset, East and West Wales before taking up her most recent role from August 2021 onwards.

In her new role, she will report to group audience editor Steve Chisholm, who in turn reports to Mark Thompson, editor of National World Publishing Online.

Said Mark: “We are delighted Katie has joined us from Newsquest.

“Her appointment is yet another sign of the ambitions of National World to continue to grow audiences across the UK, to attract the best digital talent in the industry and to build on the successes of our recent NationalWorld.com and city website launches.

“Katie’s team has already hit the ground running, creating high-quality, search-focused content with a focus on readers’ needs in our large city markets to build topical authority.”

National World is currently in the process of a restructure which will see journalism roles redeployed to bigger cities after a series of launches on patches traditionally covered by rival publishers Reach plc and Newsquest.

Yorkshire Evening Post editor Laura Collins has been made the group’s publisher, overseeing the strategic direction of some of its biggest city websites, while Nancy Fielder, who edited Sheffield daily The Star, has been appointed editor-in-chief of its city-based ‘World’ brands.

Both Laura and Nancy also report to Mark in their new roles.

Edinburgh Evening News editor Euan McGrory has also been promoted to editor-in-chief of ‘City World Newspapers’, taking overall responsibility for the print operations of both the YEP and The Star as well as his current title. Euan reports directly to National World executive chairman David Montgomery in his new post.