Hensley Promoted, Leaving News-Review after Seven Years
PETOSKEY — Larry Hensley, who started in 2007 as chief financial officer at the Petoskey News-Review and a year later became publisher of The PhoneGuide, has been named president
and publisher for Kentucky-based Advocate Communications.
During his time in Northern Michigan, Hensley steered the Petoskey News-Review and its sister publications the Gaylord Herald Times and Charlevoix Courier through the difficult economic recession while also expanding regional phone directories all owned by the News-Review’s parent company, Schurz Communications Inc.
Hensley leaves his Petoskey position at the end of the week and next month assumes his new role overseeing operations at Schurz-owned Advocate Communications, which is centered in Danville, Ky., and consists of four newspapers in the surrounding area.
“Larry’s been on the radar for a while as someone to promote up,” said Cory Bollinger, vice president of publishing for Schurz. “In that time, he’s helped out doing analysis for other papers seeing how they can perform better.”
Hensley said it’s the challenge of helping a new organization reach its potential that excites him most about the position.
“I’m looking forward to working with a team down there to help them grow and prosper,” he said.
But after seven years in Northern Michigan, Hensley said it also will be difficult to leave Petoskey. Hensley and his wife, Danielle, have three children, Ethan, Logan and Addison.
“I’ll miss the sense of community here,” he said. “I’ll miss the people the most. That’s the toughest part of this.”
Prior to joining Schurz, Hensley worked 12 years as the controller and general manager for Huntington Newspapers Inc. in Huntington, Ind. Doug Caldwell, publisher of the Petoskey News-Review, Gaylord Herald Times and Charlevoix Courier, lured Hensley to Petoskey in 2007 and said he took to the community almost immediately.
“Larry represented Schurz Communications well during the past seven years,” Caldwell said. “I am very happy for Larry. This high level promotion to run the Kentucky market is a distinguished honor and one that Larry richly deserves.”
Hensley participated in several local organizations and has worked closely with the Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce, serving on the board of directors since 2009. He leaves as the board’s vice chairman and was set to take over as chairman for the coming year.
Chamber president Carlin Smith said Hensley volunteered his financial expertise to improve the organization.
“I’m not the most knowledgeable about accounting but Larry helped a lot to get me to understand the accounting and better systems and better practices here at the chamber,” Smith said. “I can honestly say we are in much stronger condition financially and from a security standpoint because of Larry.”
Hensley officially joins the Kentucky group July 7.