I know what many of you are thinking: Who the heck is this guy?

If you don’t have kids in the local schools or attend many sporting events I wouldn’t blame you for not recognizing me, but I assure you I have lived in Fountain Hills and worked at this here paper for the past decade.

Some of you may even know me as “that one guy who showed up for a story and a photo once,” as I’ve certainly been assigned to a fair number of meetings, town events and human interest stories outside of my usual beats of schools and sports.

But if that’s not the case, I’m here today to simply say, “Hi, I’m Ryan. Pleased to meet you.”

As you may have heard, long-time Editor Mike Scharnow has decided to take a swing at a new career selling insurance and investment products, despite the fact that journalists are notoriously bad at math.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned during my time here, it’s that he’s able to handle a challenge, complicated equations or no. Mike’s been putting this paper together on a weekly basis for decades, after all; a complicated juggling act that he somehow makes look easy.

Thankfully, I’ll have lots of help as I move into the role of editor. Things will be shifting around a little bit, so please bear with us as we work to make all of the pieces fall into place.

For starters, I will continue to cover schools and sports moving forward, so be sure to say “Hi” if you see me on the sidelines Friday night or snapping pictures of a class project.

I’ll also be wrangling the letters to the editor and other bits and bobs so, if you prefer to send things through the mail, just slap my name somewhere on the envelope.

Otherwise, feel free to write ryan@fhtimes.com and, if it’s not for me, I’ll make sure it gets into the correct hands.

Barb Charzuk will be taking over the Religion section, so please send that info to barb@fhtimes.com and she’ll take care of you.

Our Special Sections Editor, Linda McThrall, will be contributing to the weekly paper in a big way. She’ll be in charge of Clubs, Arts and Entertainment and Spouts, so folks who want to submit information for those sections should now pass the details along to linda@fhtimes.com.

As for Bob Burns, he’s still the guy to talk to about news, Town events, Rio Verde happenings and the like. If you’ve been sending information to bburns@fhtimes.com over the years, just keep right on doing exactly that.

As you can see, we’re keeping it a team effort around here. Everyone at The Times – From the ad team to design and everything in between – remains committed to bringing our readers the best paper possible each and every week.

I’m not saying there won’t be a few speedbumps along the way, especially as everyone gets acclimated to the above changes, but we’ll do our best to keep the ride as smooth as possible.