John Newby - Founder

John Newby, Founder

Favorite Quote: “If you don’t like change, you will like irrelevance even less.”

John’s has experienced a unique and diverse career path providing him with unique perspectives and qualifications.  His experiences across many disciplines, both inside and outside the industry, allow him to blend several different worlds into one focused approach for news-media companies.

National Columnist & Media/Community Consultant – John is the author of the weekly column titled, “Building Main Street, not Wall Street”.  This column serves as a starting point for newspapers and the communities they serve to work together in building foundational synergies that lead the community and media company to economic resurgence.  The column is carried by 50+ media companies around the country that believe instilling a Truly Local mindset or DNA within a community is one of the answers to unlocking the faucet of the lost revenue. This is major passion for John; he believes this approach truly unlocks the doors to the news-media industry rebuilding the luster they have lost in their communities.

News-Media Publisher –  John started his 30 year media career with the Omaha World-Herald as a part of the team leading them to all-time highs. He led efforts at the Ogden Standard-Examiner, Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil and Logan Herald Journal bringing them to all-time highs as well.  He served as Publisher in Laporte, IN., Lake Magazine, Ottawa, IL. and Muskogee, OK., founding several magazines along the way. His newspapers always exceeded industry expectations and led in innovation. He was named by the leading industry magazine, Editor & Publisher, as one of the “10 Newspaper that do it Right.”  He was branded the poster child of the Newspaper Next initiative with the  “Delivery QC” loyalty platform.  He has a passion for building non-traditional revenue streams, consumer loyalty, retention & membership programs that make up the backbone of the industry and drive revenue. He is the founder of the 360 Media Alliance and the Mega Summit concept that has provided audience (both print and digital) innovation and revenue gatherings for the past 12 years.

Tourism, Revitalization & Economic Development – While with The Times in Ottawa, John was the Founder of Starved Rock Country, a regional branding initiative in Northern Illinois. This initiative was credited with assisting the growth of tourism in the region from 2 million visitors to nearly 4 million over a few short years.  This was accomplished with unique marketing and branding initiatives, including Starved Rock Country Magazine, Starved Rock Country Marathon, concerts, events and aggressive E-commerce business platforms.  He is also the founder of GO! Loyalty, powered by Uniquely USA, a “Truly Local” App for building a Truly-Local DNA, growing tourism, marketing and branding being rolled out in several states. He recently returned to the news-media industry after directing the downtown economic development, revitalization and transformation efforts for Muskogee, OK. through their Main Street Muskogee organization where he gained a completely new perspective on how the local communities and local media companies can work together building synergies that benefit both.

John is a 10-yr. veteran of the U.S. Air Force serving as a weather forecaster. His hobbies are history, economics, sports and traveling so that he and his wife Kathy can spend time with their nine children spread throughout the country.

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