Russ Stanton will step down as the Los Angeles Times' executive vice president and editor on Dec. 23. Davan Maharaj will succeed him. Maharaj has served as managing editor for news at LATsince May 2008. Maharaj becomes the 15th editor of the newspaper. He joined the company in 1989. During Stanton’s tenure as editor, the Los Angeles Times grew its digital audience significantly; it now reaches more than 17 million unique readers every month.