Eagle publisher Kim Nussbaum named vice president for advertising for McClatchy

Kim Nussbaum, the president and publisher of The Wichita Eagle for nearly four years, has been named vice president for advertising for McClatchy Co., parent company of The Eagle.

Nussbaum’s last day at The Eagle will be May 29.

“The bulk of my career has been in the advertising department, working with the local sales teams and all sizes of advertisers,” she said Monday. “I’m looking forward to focusing on it full time as we navigate through our changing and growing audience.”

Nussbaum’s appointment to the post at Sacramento, Calif.-based McClatchy is part of the company’s previously announced corporate reorganization to strengthen its sales and marketing efforts and accelerate its digital revenue growth. In her new position, Nussbaum will be based in Sacramento.

“The more I’ve talked to individuals within McClatchy the more excited I get,” she said.

McClatchy also announced Monday that Don Burk, vice president for advertising at the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth, Texas, will become corporate director of sales.

“Both Kim and Don have contributed to McClatchy’s digital transformation and revenue diversification,” McClatchy CEO Pat Talamantes said in a news release. “They are both high-energy people who have great respect among their peers, and I know they’ll have even greater impact across the company in these new roles.”

Nussbaum, 49, came to McClatchy and The Eagle in August 2011 from the Abilene Reporter-News, an E.W. Scripps newspaper in Texas where she was president and publisher.

Nussbaum has worked more than 30 years in newspapers, primarily working in advertising and marketing leadership roles before becoming a publisher in Abilene in 2007. Before joining McClatchy, she had worked for other E.W. Scripps newspapers, as well as Gannett Co. newspapers.

Nussbaum said she is proud of the strong team that she is leaving in Wichita.

“I’m proud of our newsroom and its investigative reporting on state and local issues, and our continued attention to mobile news for our rapidly growing audience,” she said.

Nussbaum said she also is proud of the Together Wichita effort launched under her tenure at The Eagle. The community improvement initiative comprises 21 Wichita companies that fund projects such as the Keepers on Parade public art project and the Memories Park on the western edge of Sedgwick County Park. The group’s 2015 project is to install signage on the walking and bicycle path near K-96 in northeast Wichita.

“To me, that just represents the power of a local media company,” she said.

Nussbaum said that her newspaper career has taken her to other states outside her native Texas, including Missouri and Oklahoma.

Her time in Wichita holds one distinction.

“We probably have some of the best friends (in Wichita) we’ve ever had,” Nussbaum said.

This story was originally published April 27, 2015 at 11:59 AM with the headline "Eagle publisher Kim Nussbaum named vice president for advertising for McClatchy."