Deseret News Announces New Media Leadership Team

SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- The Deseret News, Utah's oldest continually published daily newspaper, confirmed last week its intention to publish a daily newspaper well into the future. Today the Deseret News announced plans to accelerate its digital growth with the addition of three new media members to its leadership team. Each brings noteworthy experience in the digital world and will utilize that leadership in developing a new media content model of the future to expand the reach of the Deseret News brand. The Deseret News will have access to the leadership and guidance of these team members through its sister company, Deseret Digital Media, the leading digital media company in the Intermountain West.

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Christopher M. Lee joins the Deseret News from his position as the CEO of Heritage Makers, a privately-held seller of web-to-print products. Lee has held key leadership roles in several new media companies, including serving as director of business development at Ancestry.com, and director of product management for MyFamily.com, a first-of-its-kind social network for families. He began his career with Monitor Group, a global innovation and strategy firm.

Chris holds a bachelors degree from Brigham Young University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Regarding Chris Lee, Clark Gilbert, President and CEO of Deseret News and Deseret Digital Media stated: "The creativity and inventive thinking that has propelled Chris in other new media ventures will serve the Deseret News well as we lead Deseretnews.com to further growth on the web."

Matthew R. Sanders will lead a new organization called Deseret Connect, which will cultivate a network of local and national contributors to create relevant, insightful and engaging content for Deseret News. While the Deseret News will maintain a strong focus on creating compelling in-house content, these national contributors will add to its overall media offering.

Matt has held positions as an analyst at Forrester Research, the world's leading Internet research firm, and RAND Corporation. He formerly served as the director of online instruction at Brigham Young University-Idaho, where he developed a network of online instructors that grew from two to more than 300 in one year – exactly the experience needed to assemble high quality contributors from diverse backgrounds for Deseret Connect. He holds a BA from Brigham Young University and a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School.

Dave Bascom is the former president of SEO.com, a national leader in search and internet marketing. He is a widely recognized industry leader in search and new media business models, participating on several prominent blogs and speaking at national search conferences such as Search Engine Strategies. Bascom has been active in search engine optimization since 1998, and founded SEO.com's predecessor, Web Targeted in 2003. Bascom graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Marketing Communications.

"Each of these industry professionals brings experience in helping companies embrace new technologies and become more innovative in the new media space, which we will utilize even as we continue to print a daily newspaper," said Gilbert. "We have a great heritage in print. We have a tremendous future online."

For more information or to speak with Clark Gilbert, please contact Jamie Stum at (877) 483-6420.

About Deseret News

Deseret News is Utah's oldest continually published daily newspaper. The publication is a trusted source of local and national news serving a growing global audience. Other publications of Deseret New include the Church News, Mormon Times and El Observador. Deseret News is a part of Deseret Media Companies.

SOURCE The Deseret News