At its recent annual meeting, the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association elected Larry A. McDermott to a two-year term as president, effective Jan. 1. McDermott is publisher and CEO of The Republican, a daily regional newspaper covering most of Western Massachusetts. He was named publisher in January 1999 after serving as editor for eight years.

Also elected to two-year terms as officers were:

– 1st Vice President: Oreste D’Arconte, publisher, The Sun Chronicle.
– 2nd Vice President: Gregory R. Rush, associate publisher and COO, Community Newspaper Company.
– Treasurer: Peter Haggerty, publisher, Daily Times-Chronicle.
– Secretary: Alfred S. Larkin Jr., senior vice president, The Boston Globe.

McDermott’s journalism career includes 18 years with The Associated Press and 16 years at newspapers in Michigan and Massachusetts. From 1970 to 1988, he worked for the AP as a reporter, political correspondent, bureau chief and corporate executive. Before coming to the Springfield newspaper, McDermott was publisher of The Bay City Times, a daily newspaper in Bay City, Mich. Both are owned by Advance Publications, which publishes 26 daily newspapers, 81 weekly newspapers and more than 50 business journals around the country.

McDermott joined Advance in 1988 to organize and manage a statewide news service for the company’s eight newspapers in Michigan. Later he created and launched a system for computer-assisted journalism for the group. His experience as a reporter included sports writing, features and political analysis. As an editor and manager, he directed AP news operations in Arkansas, Minnesota and Michigan.

McDermott and Supreme Judicial Court Justice John M. Greaney are co-chairs of the Massachusetts Judiciary-Media Committee of the Supreme Judicial Court. He is a corporator of the Springfield Museums at the Quadrangle, a former member of the board of directors of the Greater Springfield YMCA and a former member of the board of Springfield public television station WGBY-TV Channel 57. He is a former chairman of the Regional Education and Business Alliance.