The chief commercial officer of regional publisher Johnston Press has left his role after two years with the company.
Neil Jones was originally hired as commercial and marketing director in 2012 and became chief commercial officer five months ago.
The publisher has now confirmed that he left the role last month.
John Bills, regional managing director for the South Yorkshire and Peaks business unit, will lead the company’s commercial operation on an interim basis until a permanent successor is appointed.
In a statement Neil said: ‘I marked my second anniversary this week and have decided it’s the right time to look at other opportunities after first taking some time out to spend with my family.
“As a result of the recent, successful refinancing Johnston Press is in far better shape than it was when I joined and I want to wish the company well going forward.”
Neil joined Johnston Press from News International, where he was director of commercial strategy. He was previously MD at Carat, one of the UK’s leading media buying and planning agencies, where he worked for 17 years.
His responsibilities included driving national ad sales, devising joined-up propositions for advertisers across print and digital, and overseeing all commercial revenues including circulation.
Johnston Press chief executive Ashley Highfield said: “I would like to thank Neil for his contributions over the past two years as we have been transitioning Johnston Press into a multi-media company.”
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he left weeks ago when he resigned and was allowed to go the same day, no notice period.
More to this one I think
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Hoorah for the Bills Meister , still wearing the Harry Hill’s ?
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Increasing circulation?? Circulation of JP titles has plummeted!! Def more to this.
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With circulation falling and, from what I can see, no real increase in national ad sales, Neil Jones was on a hiding to nothing. With the World Cup effectively over, Tour de Yorkshire finished, plus a loss of interest in the Leeds Utd/Cellino saga, sales are now going to decrease further. The man is not an idiot, maybe he jumped before he was pushed. JP Yorkshire titles saw the true value of print against digital in the last few days. Now is the time to concentrate on the core products for a while: save on a huge salary and perhaps not rush so fast to digital until it is known for certain that it is what readers want. As ever with JP, the high salaried come and go, leaving those producing the goods in the hands of a management that do not have the future of local people and staff, or titles at heart.
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where does it say anything about increasing circulation?
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JP Cost Cut Victim – since when was he World Cup good for regional/local media circulations?
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I remember most local advertisers wanting many an ad designed on a ‘World Cup theme’, so presumably sales reps and their managers saw the value of it for special features and publications. Personally, I couldn’t care less about it, but appreciate that others do. Overseeing all commercial revenues, including circulation, was tasked to NJ: I presume it was for it to increase.
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