When most 8-year-olds were playing with Hot Wheels cars, Taylor DesOrmeau was piloting a kid-scaled race car down a drag strip at 50 miles per hour.
“I’ve practiced a lot – I think I’m ready,” he told a reporter for an article about him by his hometown paper, The Novi News, back in 2003.
Twenty years later, DesOrmeau is ready for a different kind of challenge that can quicken the heart rate and produce thrills: Leading a newsroom.
Earlier this month MLive named DesOrmeau the editor of the Kalamazoo Gazette. He replaces Mark Tower, who left the role late last year to pursue other career opportunities. DesOrmeau comes to the role after seven years as a reporter for MLive, most recently as a data reporter on our statewide team.
"It's been a true joy to watch Taylor progress into this leadership role over the last seven years," said Sara Scott, MLive’s director of local news and investigations. "Taylor's natural curiosity and passion for the truth makes him a natural for the work we do."
The love of car racing, instilled in DesOrmeau by his father, John, made him want to be a NASCAR commentator when he got older. That led him to write sports for his high school paper and, eventually, to the role of sports editor for the CM Life student paper at Central Michigan University.
Graduated from college in 2016, DesOrmeau accepted a summer news reporting internship for MLive at the Jackson Citizen Patriot, which led to a full-time role later that year. While he still gets his thrills drag racing with his father, he’s just as passionate about journalism.
“There are two components to everything we do. Is it for a public good or of public interest?” he said. “So, being the watchdog. And the other, finding the interesting part of people’s stories and getting others to connect with that.”
Said Scott: "Taylor's priority is always the reader. What stories do they want and/or need from us? How does our work serve them? How does it make their lives better or more informed? That's one of the traits that will make Taylor a great editor for Kalamazoo."
DesOrmeau, 29, moved to the Kalamazoo area in November and is impressed with the city and the Gazette journalism staff that covers it.
“They're skilled and they know the town well, so they already have those connections,” he said, adding that he also feels supported by other MLive editors he works with. “I know that there's a lot of people in my corner that have lots of experience; it's really great to have that kind of team.”
Here is MLive’s news leadership team across our eight markets and for statewide coverage:
Eric Gaertner – senior editor for West Michigan news.
Monica Scott – editor for The Grand Rapids Press and the Muskegon Chronicle.
Taylor DesOrmeau – editor for the Kalamazoo Gazette.
Leanne Smith – senior editor for East Michigan news.
John Counts – editor for The Ann Arbor News and the Jackson Citizen Patriot.
Roberto Acosta – editor for The Flint Journal
Bob Johnson – editor for The Bay City Times and The Saginaw News.
Shannon Murphy – senior editor for statewide topics.
Danielle Salisbury – editor for statewide politics and economy
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John Hiner is the vice president of content for MLive Media Group. If you have questions you’d like him to answer, or topics to explore, share your thoughts at [email protected].
