MD calls time on career

Graeme Clifford

A senior management restructure at Midland News Association will see the retirement of its managing director at the end of the year.

Graeme  Clifford (pictured) bows out after a career of almost 45 years, having joined the company as an 18-year-old in 1978. He will be replaced by Matt Ross, currently managing director at the Jersey Evening Post (JEP).

Both MNA – which publishes the Wolverhampton Express & Star and the Shropshire Star – and JEP are owned by the Claverley Group, whose chief executive Phil Inman said: that Graeme had played a significant role in a number of milestone projects, resulting in a positive impact on everything he had tackled.

He said that Graeme was appointed as a director of Shropshire Newspapers at the beginning of 2003. A notable highlight of his career saw the installation of new colour presses at Ketley, Telford, which paved the way for MNA titles to be printed in full colour.

Having joined the board of the MNA in 2008, Graeme assumed the MD role in 2015. Graeme was then appointed as MD at MNA and PCS (a Claverley-owned publishing software firm) in 2018.

Another restructuring change  will see digital MD Louise Burns leave MNA after 32 years to take up the MD role at business to business publishing group HPCI Media, which was purchased by Claverley earlier this year.

Matt Whiles, currently operations director at Claverley-owned publishing software firm PCS, is being promoted to MD of that subsidiary.

Meanwhile, the Shropshire Star – launched in 1964 -  has put its Ketley-based offices and print hall up for sale saying it is now too big for its purposes. A purpose-built printing press facility, constructed in the 1970s, forms part of the sale.  The “for sale” decision follows an announcement last year from MNA that it intended to outsource its printing operation.