Ryland will leave The New Age at the end of August.
Williams is the editor-in-chief of Independent Newspapers Gauteng, which includes The Star and Pretoria News, and is the editorial director of the group. He was editor of The Star and Saturday Star until March this year.
He previously edited the group's Cape Town titles, the Cape Times, the Cape Argus and Weekend Argus, and the Pretoria News - another Independent title in Gauteng. Prior to that, he was editor of South, an independent weekly, which, says Howa, played a key media role in the anti-apartheid struggle in the '80s.
He was also the managing editor of the Sowetan.
He is a previous chairperson and board member of the Vienna-based International Press Institute (1998-2000). He was a founder member of the SA National Editors' Forum and served as its chairperson in 1997/8.
