By Emily Ford
eford@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — Greg Anderson, publisher of the Salisbury Post, has been promoted to director of the community newspaper group for Evening Post Publishing Co., parent company of the Salisbury Post.
Travis Rockey, president and chief operating officer of Evening Post Publishing Co., made the announcement Friday. Anderson will continue to serve as publisher of the Salisbury Post.
“I will be working with a strong group of leaders who work hard every day to bring local news and advertising to their communities,” Anderson said. “My job is to find out how I can help them.”
Anderson has been publisher of the Post since September 2006. He also has been responsible for Davie County Publishing, which publishes the Davie County Enterprise and Clemmons Courier, weekly newspapers in Mocksville and Clemmons.
In his new role, he will oversee Island Publications, Summerville Communications, Kingstree Communications and Georgetown Communications, which publish a total of nine newspapers, all in South Carolina.
“More than ever, we need to find operational efficiencies and new sources of revenue,” Anderson said. “We need to keep our loyal customers, grow our audiences and bring solutions to our advertisers and marketing partners.”
At a recent publishers’ meeting for the Evening Post Publishing Co. in Charleston, Anderson won the annual President’s Award.
Under Anderson’s leadership in 2011, the Salisbury Post:
• Grew Internet revenue 19 percent year-over-year.
• Finished 2011 with the best daily year-over-year revenue performance.
• Finished 2011 best in revenue performance to budget.
• Opened a strategic conversation with a competitor to develop operating efficiencies between the two companies.
• Launched a game-changer focusing on local, state and regional gardening and hobby farming, www.farmcarolina. com. The website went live in November.
• Launched a sustainability project that tapped into federal stimulus funds to make the Salisbury Post building more energy efficient. The project resulted in annual energy savings of $38,000.
• Finished among the top USA Today print sites with 91 percent of trucks leaving on time and 90 percent print quality score.
• Developed a new accounting approach treating the production operation as a print site and the newspaper as a customer, so the company can evaluate each separately.
Prior to joining Evening Post Publishing Co., Anderson served as publisher of the Boulder Daily Camera in Boulder, Colo. with responsibility for the daily paper and nine community weekly newspapers.
“Greg brings creativity, energy and enthusiasm to everything he does and looks forward to working with all the folks in the community weekly group,” Rockey said.
Anderson and his wife Melanie have two children, Connor and Sophie.
Contact reporter Emily Ford at 704-797-4264.