Stars and Stripes has a new editor-in-chief and, for the first time, women serving as commanders overseeing both its Europe and Pacific business operations.

Robert H. Reid replaced Terry Leonard as the top editor, taking up the position after nine years as the media organization’s senior managing editor.

Leonard, an Army veteran who was a longtime Associated Press foreign correspondent, retired after 15 years on the job at Stars and Stripes.

Reid brings extensive experience to the position, having also served for decades as an AP foreign correspondent and editor before joining the organization. Prior to his journalism career, Reid served as an Army intelligence officer.

Meanwhile, the new military commanders took up their positions at Stars and Stripes’ overseas headquarters in Germany and Japan.

Air Force Lt. Col. Marci Hoffman, who has led business operations in Europe and the Middle East since 2020 from the newspaper’s headquarters in Kaiserslautern, recently assumed command in the Pacific.

Hoffman is an Air Force Academy graduate and previously served as a C-130 instructor pilot.

She replaces Lt. Col. Michael Kerschbaum at Stripes’ Pacific headquarters in Tokyo. Hoffman is the first person to command Stripes in both Europe and the Pacific.

On Wednesday, Army Lt. Col. Katie Fidler replaced Hoffman as commander of Stars and Stripes Europe and Expeditionary. Fidler is a United States Military Academy graduate and engineer who previously served as a chief of plans, operations and exercises at U.S. Army Europe and Africa headquarters in Wiesbaden.

Fidler first appeared in a Stars and Stripes story in 2004 as a West Point cadet, when she instructed South Korean soldiers on how to build a bridge.

“The unique aspects of the two commanders are exciting symbols of the diverse nature of the Stars and Stripes leadership,” said publisher Max Lederer, noting that this is also the first time two service academy graduates are in command at the same time.

Stars and Stripes first published a newspaper in 1861 and has done so continuously in Europe and the Pacific theaters since World War II. It now operates as a newspaper and a multimedia news organization.

While part of the Defense Department, Stars and Stripes is editorially independent by an act of Congress. Its editorial chain of command is solely responsible for its news content.

Its military commanders oversee logistics, marketing and other operations but are not involved in news decisions.