Ron Thayer (pictured), a longtime newspaper executive in California and Washington state, has been named director of advertising and marketing of MediaNews Group’s Marin Independent Journal, the paper announced yesterday. IJ Publisher Mario van Dongen, who worked with Thayer in Washington, recruited him to Marin. Before his newspaper career, Thayer spent 13 years in the Navy and served in the Persian Gulf during the first Gulf War. “I’m much happier doing this, thank you,” he said. “Nobody has shot at me yet.”