The new Rogue Valley Times sign at 2 E. Main St. in downtown Medford.

Two local journalists with long-time ties to Southern Oregon have been promoted to leadership roles in the Rogue Valley Times newsroom.

Times publisher David Sommers announced the appointment of Troy Heie as editor and Erick Bengel as city editor, becoming the top two leaders of the newsroom and editorial department.

Heie has served as interim editor since late October after initially joining the Times as city editor in February 2023.

As editor, Heie also joins the Rogue Valley Times editorial board, the group charged with implementing the publication’s approach to editorials and opinion pieces, representing the views and goals of the RVT’s ownership and publisher.

A resident of Talent, Heie’s 33 years of journalism experience includes roles in newsrooms up and down the West Coast.

He’s been the top editor at the Weed Press in Siskiyou County and the Ashland Daily Tidings, the copy desk chief at the Medford Mail Tribune, and he’s worked at the Los Angeles Times bureau in Ventura County and been a beat reporter in education, sports and on city desks. He’s also lived in Europe and spent time working in hospitality in the Czech Republic.

Bengel’s promotion to city editor comes after serving as a reporter for the Rogue Valley Times since its launch last year, covering health care and social issues, including social services, child care, cost of living, homelessness, substance use disorder, labor relations and wildfire recovery.

Previously, Bengel served as a reporter and features editor for The Astorian newspaper. He worked for Rogue Valley Community Television in Ashland while studying at Southern Oregon University.

Bengel holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in New York City, where his reporting on the impacts of a fast-eroding coastline was published by The Guardian.