Pilot names new ad director

Alicia Robinson

After eight years with the Daily Pilot, Lisa Cosenza has been named

advertising director for the Pilot, the Huntington Beach Independent

and the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot.

Cosenza, 38, takes over the job last held by Judy Oetting, a

longtime Daily Pilot employee who died from pancreatic cancer in

February.

One of the qualities that set Cosenza apart was her willingness to

take on new duties in Oetting’s absence, Daily Pilot Publisher Thomas

H. Johnson said.

“I looked both inside and outside the company, and as time went

on, I thought Lisa kind of stood up and took a leadership role in

addition to doing her regular job,” he said.

A California native who lives in Aliso Viejo, Cosenza studied

communications at Cal State Fullerton and worked on the school

newspaper while she was in school at Saddleback College. Before

coming to the Daily Pilot, she worked for the PennySaver in Mission

Viejo.

After starting out in classifieds, Cosenza moved into real estate

advertising and helped nearly double the size of the Daily Pilot’s

weekly real estate section to about 144 pages. As advertising

director for three papers, she will supervise about 20 people. She

likes her job for the customer service and variety, she said.

“You get to meet a lot of different people,” she said. “Each day’s

different. I like deadlines. It kind of adds a little excitement.”

In addition to taking on her new job, Cosenza will soon face the

challenge of moving her department to the Daily Pilot’s new offices

in the Los Angeles Times Orange County facility and managing a

satellite advertising office.

Cosenza said she’s excited about the move as an opportunity to

revitalize her teams of advertising personnel, and she also plans to

develop new ideas for special sections in the paper.

“I think Lisa’s creative and can do that,” Johnson said. “She’s

always had this concern about what’s right for our advertiser.”

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail at

alicia.robinson@latimes.com.