THE managing director of Newsquest North East has announced his retirement.

David Kelly, 60, has been managing director of the company, which is based in Darlington and publishes The Northern Echo, Darlington & Stockton Times and the Advertiser Series, for nearly 11 years.

Before that, he was general manager and managing editor of The Northern Echo.

He began his newspaper career as a journalist in West London and then worked in Wiltshire, before moving to the North-East in 1976.

Newsquest North East is a major employer in the region, with more than 340 staff at its head office in Darlington and at its district offices in North Yorkshire, County Durham and Teesside.

It is part of the UK-wide Newsquest Media Group, which is a subsidiary of US group Gannett, which publishes USA Today.

In 2004, Mr Kelly was named Publisher of the Year in Newsquest's Excellence Awards, and a year ago he was flown to Washington as one of Gannett's Manager of the Year finalists - one of the proudest moments in his career.

Last night, Mr Kelly said: "I think we have fine newspapers at Newsquest North East and I feel I have done my job as steward here.

"I feel that the time is right for me to retire - that makes it the right time for the business.

"It will be very hard for me to leave. I have had some wonderful colleagues and I have worked with some really marvellous people, at all levels.

"I have met a lot of people in this community for whom I have enormous respect and I feel very privileged to have been in the position to know them. It has been a great experience."

Mr Kelly said he would not fully retire, as he was a self-confessed workaholic, but wanted time to "see a bit more of life".

Paul Davidson, chairman and chief executive of Newsquest, said: "David has made an enormous contribution to the company during his many years of service."

Peter Barron, editor of The Northern Echo, said: "David has guided the company through a decade of radical change in the newspaper industry.

"He has done it with great care and passion and will be a very hard act to follow."