With the expansion of a local graphic-design center, Athens and Ohio University could see new opportunities for design talent.
American Consolidated Media, the parent company of The Athens Messenger, recently made Athens the headquarters for its graphic-design center, which will produce ads for the company’s newspapers and websites.
For Chief Operating Officer Scott Wright, the decision to consolidate its operations and make the Athens office the headquarters was an easy decision.
“We are very impressed with the talent (in Athens) as well as a great journalism school to provide us with talent in the future,” Wright said. “We are looking for consistency and efficiency.”
The office, which is now open on the top floor of The Messenger’s building, will provide 17 new positions.
Monica Nieporte, publisher of The Messenger, said two of the positions will be part-time jobs and the remaining 15 will be full-time with benefits.
“It’s part of our companies’ strategy to consolidate,” Nieporte said. “We want to be doing more in fewer places.”
With the graphic-design hub for the company’s 14 Ohio-based newspapers already in Athens, consolidating the other locations to the well-established site made sense, Nieporte said.
OU, Hocking College and the Rio Grande Community College provide “ample amounts” of graphic-design talent from which to recruit, she added.
“Absolutely, (the talent in Athens) should be a valuable resource for both us and the school,” Wright said.
One of Athens’ own has been given the task of overseeing the company’s entire graphic-design operation as well.
“We also promoted someone locally, Danny Turner, to look over the graphic-design hub. He is now also in charge of the ACM’s other graphic-design center in Texas as well,” Nieporte said.
One of the next decisions the company will discuss is how the graphic-design hub will offer internships.
“I think that is definitely a possibility. We will take a look at additional opportunities we can provide through internships, hoping that we can find future employees through them,” Nieporte said. “As we are expanding our Web presence, we will be looking to add online journalism interns as well.”
More than anything, Nieporte is thrilled that the company decided to make Athens the center of these operations.
Nieporte said, “We are very pleased that ACM has chosen Athens for this hub, as it is a great development for the entire community.”
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