About Us

Part of the BC owned and operated Black Press chain of community newspapers, the Oak Bay News has a local presence dating back more than 25 years. The "News" started out in 1974 as the independently owned "Oak Bay Star" and only became the Oak Bay News in 1993. Delivered free to every home and business in Oak Bay and available at newstands throughout the municipality, the Oak Bay News is an award-winning, twice-weekly paper serving a community of just over 18,000 people. A suburb of Victoria (but an autonomous municipality in its own right) Oak Bay is almost entirely residential. A prosperous, upper-middle class town with abundant parks, two championship golf courses and magnificent seascapes (Oak Bay hugs the Pacific Ocean along its eastern shoulder). Oak Bay became a municipality in 1906 and has retained a feeling of "Olde England" in her Tudor-style buildings, quaint shops and tiny, hidden country lanes. Affectionately known as sitting behind the "Tweed Curtain", Oak Bay has long been home to a large seniors' population. But increasingly the demographic is shifting to younger families. The News is published Wednesdays and Fridays.

Your Community News Team

	Publisher Penny Sakamoto 381-3633, ext. 259	Penny Sakamoto is group publisher for Black Press-Greater Victoria, leading a team of about 65 staff and approximately 1,200 newspaper carriers. She graduated from journalism school in Winnipeg and has spent her career in the newspaper business in Canada and the U.S. She served as president of the B.C. and Yukon Community Newspaper Association and on the board of the Canadian Community Newspaper Association. In 2008, Sakamoto was awarded the Silver Quill Award for more than 25 years of distinguished service to the industry. Sakamoto works out of the Broughton Street office in downtown Victoria.
	Sales Manager Oliver Sommer 381-3633, ext. 236	Oliver Sommer, raised on the Lower Mainland and the Okanagan Valley, has worked in the advertising business for 17 years. He has held various sales management positions in advertising agencies as well as the newspaper industry, including most recently with Black Press's Peninsula News Review in Sidney. Preveiously he was Director of Advertising with the Lethbridge Herald and was Advertising Sales Manager for the Globe and Mail for four years. Oliver and his wife, Leslie, have three children: Matthias, 6, Austin, 4, and Amelia, 2. They are expecting their fourth child before the end of 2009.
	Editor Don Descoteau 381-3633, ext. 243	Being named editor of the Oak Bay News was a kind of coming home for Don Descoteau. He started his career with Black Press in 1991 writing freelance sports pieces for what was then known as the Oak Bay Star. In the 18 years since, his work with the company has taken him to Williams Lake, Campbell River and back to Victoria in 2001. He appreciates the smalltown feel of Oak Bay and spending time in the village with his two children.
	Photo supervisor Don Denton 381-3633 ext. 271	Don Denton is the photo supervisor for Black Press's Victoria News, Saanich News and Oak Bay News. He has worked as a photographer and photo editor for newspapers throughout Western Canada as well as for the British news agency Reuters based in Brussels, Belgium. He has taught photography at Mount Royal College in Calgary and currently teaches at the Western Academy of Photography in Victoria.
	Reporter Vivian Moreau
	BCclassified Classified Advertising 250-388-3535	Classified Advertising 250-388-3535
	Editorial director Kevin Laird 250-381-3633 (Ext. 293)	for Black Press-Greater Victoria and editor of the Victoria News since September 2007. Previous to that he was editor of the Nanaimo News Bulletin and worked at community and daily newspapers in Alberta and B.C. Laird and the newsroom staff he has led have won numerous national, provincial and regional awards. He's been in the newspaper business since 1981 and has a degree in journalism.
	Director of Circulation Bruce Hogarth 250-360-0817	Bruce Hogarth has spent 25 years in the newspaper business and has extensive community newspaper experience. Most recently he worked for six years for the Vancouver Sun and Province before relocating to take the position as director of circulation for Black Press Greater Victoria. The native of Vancouver enjoys photography and tennis in his spare time.