Publisher - Colorado News Conservancy

Job Title: Publisher
Status: Full-time, exempt; salary commensurate with experience; competitive benefits package
Location: Denver Metro-Area, Colorado

The Opportunity

The Colorado News Conservancy seeks a forward-thinking, growth-minded, transformational publisher to lead the next phase of evolution and transformation for its 24 titles operating collectively as Colorado Community Media.

The Colorado News Conservancy recently purchased these titles with a vision of transforming the beloved papers into a 21st Century, best-in-class community media organization focused on delivering expert service journalism and deep community reporting.

You’re a good fit if...

- You have passion for, and can rally support to local news and independent media.
- You’re passionate about business model innovation and experimentation.
- You recognize the need to engage deeply with readers and serve communities.
- Demonstrated community leadership, including acting as an integral member of local business, civic and social institutions
- You have successful executive leadership experience.
- You have a proven track record of revenue generation and diversification in media.
- You have experience in P&L management, cash flow management, setting and delivering budgets.
- You have experience designing, implementing and managing organizational change
- You have skillful communication and change management capabilities
- You have experience building and hiring exceptional teams.
- You prioritize building an equitable and inclusive organizational culture that actively values contributions from different lived experiences and backgrounds.
- You are the kind of leader who brings teams together, fosters a healthy work environment and motivates people to go the extra mile.
- You would thrive equally in a startup environment where you are expected to think outside the box, as well as an established organization where you must effectively nurture existing internal and external relationships.
- You have a bias towards action, collaboration, experimentation and calculated risk-taking

The Role

This is a unique opportunity to lead the transformation of a collection of highly valuable, vibrant community weekly newspapers with a newly national profile.

The Publisher will help to evolve the organization towards a nimble, sustainable, community centered future. You will create a goal-oriented, collaborative, work environment with excellent culture and development opportunities. You will rebuild the core administrative functions including HR, Finance, Sales, Production and IT to create seamless and integrated operations, and support the eventual launch of digital editorial and revenue products. You will meet with long-time advertisers, readers and business leaders to deepen their commitment to and support of CCM. You will drive editorial and audience strategy working in close partnership with The Colorado Sun, and report to the Board of Directors on strategy, progress and learnings. In partnership with the Board, you will cultivate and maintain relationships with the vibrant philanthropic community supporting local news in Colorado.

Responsibilities and Priorities

Strategic Vision and Branding

- Develop and deploy strategic initiatives that support the audience and revenue growth of each news title
- Develop a clear vision for CCM’s local impact and community engagement
- Develop a brand strategy to build awareness and visibility across the news titles; serve as a visible advocate for community-oriented newsrooms.
- Work with the Board to flesh out the Board’s initial strategic assumptions and develop a three-year strategic plan
- Work with the Board to nurture and grow the coalition of philanthropic funders who have supported the CCM acquisition

Culture and Organizational Development

- Unify staff around a clear and stated mission, vision, values and strategy
- Ensure that the organization fully embodies core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and incorporates DEI best practices in alignment with the strategic plan
- Foster an open culture of collaboration, quality, innovation, data-driven decision-making and intelligent use of resources
- Implement expansion of benefits and compensation packages for existing staff, with significant support from board of directors.

General Management

- Ensure cohesive leadership at the executive level so that the organization’s day-to-day operations are professionally and efficiently administered
- Work closely with staff to develop a regular cadence of internal communication, meeting touchpoints, and goal-setting
- Set performance benchmarks for departments across the organization, holding the organization to the highest levels of transparency, accountability and consistency.
- Ensure that financial systems, budgets, and planning strategies accurately reflect the financial realities of the organization; achieve realistic and attainable financial projections and ensure fiscal stability
- Review how the organization measures and shares progress and success; support the Board’s efforts and capacity to track and disseminate impact to its funders and partners.
- Develop a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion commitment and oversee implementation across all levels of staff development, editorial coverage and operations.
- With support of the Board, undertake a comprehensive review of the human resources required to meet strategic goals across departments, including making recommendations for hiring, pay-scale, and benefits changes.
- Oversee the development of editorial resources and workflows required to meet strategic goals, in partnership with the Colorado Sun

Revenue

- Identify and implement best practices in growth and circulation management including the development of financial models for new initiatives and newsroom expansion plans
- Oversee the development of the existing Sales & Legals team, creating the processes and reporting lines necessary to identify, cultivate and solicit new opportunities, develop compelling digital products, and maintain seamless day-to-day operations
- Maintain CCM’s active relationships with the local business community
- Develop innovative revenue partnerships with local and national organizations, with support from the National Trust for Local News

Board Relations

- Partner with the Board of Directors on strategic planning, revenue planning, partnership development, and resource development and planning.
- Serve as the primary point of contact for CCM leadership with the Board of Directors, engaging with and updating the Board on matters related to CCM’s strategy, revenue and operations.

Compensation and benefits

Compensation for this role is $90,000 to $120,000/year. Group insurance benefits include medical, dental, vision, employee life, and supplemental life and disability insurance plans.

The Organizations

The Colorado News Conservancy was founded in May 2021 by the National Trust for Local
News, in partnership with the Colorado Sun. The Conservancy is a public benefit corporation
established to purchase the 24 titles housed under Colorado Community Media, formerly owned by Jerry and Ann Healey, and is the first acquisition by the Trust.

About the National Trust for Local News

The National Trust for Local News is a nonprofit working with funders and communities to keep
local news sustainable and in local hands.

About Colorado Sun

The Colorado Sun is a journalist-owned, award-winning news outlet based in Denver that strives to cover all of Colorado so that our state — our community — can better understand itself.

About Colorado Community Media

Colorado Community Media is Colorado’s largest local community media outlet, reaching and
actively engaging with more than 300,000 local community members each week. Among its 24
titles are some of Colorado’s oldest and beloved newspapers.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

We’re committed to building an inclusive organization that represents the people and communities we serve. We encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, veterans, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities.

HOW TO APPLY

Interested candidates should email a cover letter and resume to [email protected] with the subject line “Publisher: Colorado News Conservancy.”