Mike Wolanin | The Republic An exterior of The Republic building on National Road in Columbus, Ind., Friday, April 1, 2022.
COLUMBUS, Ind. — AIM Media Indiana LLC on Thursday announced the appointment of Richard Clark as publisher at The Republic in Columbus, and as vice president and group publisher with responsibility for all AIM media properties in Indiana.
Clark succeeds Bud Hunt, who is retiring from the company at the end of this month.
The announcement was made jointly by Jeremy L. Halbreich, AIM Media chairman and CEO and by Rick Starks, president and COO, and it is effective Dec. 5, 2022.
As VP and group gublisher, Clark will be responsible for the daily newspapers in Columbus, Franklin, Greenfield and Seymour; weekly newspapers in Nashville, Brownstown, Pendleton, New Palestine and Fortville-McCordsville; DigitalAIM, the digital marketing services operation; a magazine and special publications division; and all affiliated websites and digital assets.
Most recently, Clark served as regional advertising director for Adams Publishing Group in Tennessee, Virginia and western North Carolina, and as publisher in Rogersville, Tennessee, supervising 20 newspapers across the region and with responsibilities for sales, team building and financial performance.
“We are excited and privileged to announce the appointment of Richard Clark, his joining our strong team in Indiana and his arrival in Columbus,” said Halbreich. “He is a highly experienced, accomplished and successful publishing executive who brings strong leadership and great energy and enthusiasm to the Republic and to the entire Indiana community.”
“Richard is deeply committed to the local communities he serves and he looks forward to becoming fully engaged with the people and civic organizations across Columbus and Bartholomew County,” Starks added.
Hunt said he was looking forward to retirement.
“After 35-plus years the time has come to go do other things. For me, other things means being more involved grandparents, playing a little more golf and doing some traveling,” he said.
“Lee and I are moving to Jackson, Missouri, just outside Cape Girardeau, where we have two grandchildren who are toddlers and an 11-year-old granddaughter in St. Charles, Missouri. We have enjoyed our time in Columbus tremendously. This is a great community with a lot to offer. Serving as publisher of this newspaper, for this community, has been a great way to wind up my career,” Hunt said.
Clark earlier in his career served from 2012-2020 as vice president-sales for Sandusky Newspaper Group with sales and service responsibilities across multiple states, from 1996-2020 as owner of Classified Development, where he worked with more than 300 newspaper clients as a consultant, and earlier as advertising director for Freedom Communications at newspapers in Alabama and Florida. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama.
AIM Media Indiana LLC is an affiliate of AIM Media Texas LLC and AIM Media Midwest LLC. All entities are managed by AIM Media Management in Dallas, Texas. The Company focuses on local news and information content across all forms of media including print, digital and video.
