A regional daily business editor has quit the newspaper to form a PR firm with one of his former employees.

Richard Baker has left the Nottingham Post to form BakerBaird Communications with Stuart Baird, who worked under Richard during his editorship of the now-defunct Mansfield Observer in the 1990s.

Richard has worked at senior level in daily newspapers and national magazines for the past 20 years, while Stuart has worked on Government and NHS campaigns for the last 15 years and spent time at 10 Downing Street’s strategic communications unit.

The new Nottingham-based venture agency will be focused on “combining the best of the private and public sectors”.

Stuart Baird, left, and Richard Baker

Said Richard: “We’ve come together to launch a business which mixes daily newsroom skills with strategic communications expertise, and combines knowledge and relationships across the regional economy with an intimate understanding of government and the public sector.

“We’re based in Nottingham and will have an East Midlands focus. But we are, already, operating nationally and internationally”.

Stuart added: “The world is changing at an ever more rapid pace and there is nowhere as challenging than in that media space where everyone is trying to shout to make their voice heard.

“Matching the best of private and public sector know-how gives us the cutting edge in an age of transformation to make sure our clients’ voice is heard.”

Richard began his career on the Mansfield Chad in the early 1980s before taking on the Observer editorship.

The paper eventually closed in August 2012.