Home News Enterprises is changing its structure as the group’s media and printing divisions expand.
As part of the realignment, longtime HNE employee Chuck Wells has been named vice president of media for Home News.
Wells will now oversee the newly formed division called HNE Media, which includes all the company’s newspapers and their magazine, special publication and digital operations.
Wells will continue in his role as publisher of The Republic (Columbus), the Daily Journal (Franklin), The Tribune (Seymour) and the Brown County Democrat (Nashville). In his new role, he also will be publisher of the Daily Reporter (Greenfield).
“We have a shared vision at HNE,” Wells said. “We strive daily to produce outstanding publications, in print and online, which act as the glue holding our communities together.
“Our newspapers and magazines are thriving, and our websites are generating millions of page views each month,” he said. “All of this is made possible by the hard work of our staff and through the support of our stakeholders.”
HNE has made a strategic decision to invest in people and content, and communities are responding, he said.
The former publisher of the Daily Reporter, Randall D. Shields, has been HNE’s vice president of commercial printing since 2007 and will continue in that role. He has been publisher of the Daily Reporter since 1997 and will now focus solely on the company’s commercial printing division.
HNE recently purchased new press equipment for its printing facility in Columbus.
That purchase is opening new markets and allowing for the expansion of print, bindery and mail capabilities, said Jeffrey N. Brown, president and chief executive officer of Home News Enterprises.
“This change will allow for revenue growth in both our newly minted business divisions as we will be bringing better focus on two distinctly different businesses,” Brown said.
As part of the announcements, the company is changing the name of its printing division from HNE Printers to HNE Printing.
Home News Enterprises, which employs 320 people, is a family-owned multimedia company based in Columbus, publishing and owning newspapers, magazines, websites and specialty publications.
