Ricky Mathews to retire by Jan. 1

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Ricky R. Mathews, president of Advance Media Southeast and Advance Local, has announced plans to retire as of Jan. 1. Mathews is a member of the SNPA Board of Directors, representing newspapers in Louisiana.

In making the announcement, he said: "Joining Advance was the single best career decision I ever made. Moving from a public company to the largest privately-owned media company in the U.S. afforded me opportunities to take risks in ways I would have never had at a public company. I am honored and fortunate to have worked for the Newhouse family and to have been at the epicenter for change in our industry and feel very confident that Advance is well on its way to finding a sustainable business model that contributes toward saving American journalism."

Over the course of his career, he served as president and publisher of The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., and gained responsibilities for newspapers in Macon and Columbus, Ga., and Bradenton, Fla.  He also led various corporate efforts for parent company Knight-Ridder, culminating with co-leading the strategic planning effort for Knight-Ridder in 2005. The final report was delivered to the leadership of Knight-Ridder the week after Hurricane Katrina hit South Mississippi.

He said, "Hurricane Katrina suddenly amplified the demands on the people I supervised and on everyone I knew, especially my family. I worked hard to rebuild our company and help our employees recover, while simultaneously working closely with Governor Haley Barbour to formulate a recovery plan for our devastated Mississippi Gulf Coast, serving as a vice-chairman of the commission, with responsibility for the tourism recovery plan. I was honored last year to write the foreword to Haley Barbour's book on Katrina: "America's Great Storm." Not long after Katrina, The McClatchy Company purchased Knight-Ridder. 

In mid-2009, Mathews said he was approached about working for Advance Publications. This ultimately led to him leaving the Sun Herald and becoming both the president and publisher at the Press-Register newspaper in Mobile, Ala., and president of Advance Alabama, with additional responsibilities for newspapers in Birmingham and Huntsville. 

In April 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil well exploded, and Mathews accepted Governor Bob Riley's request to lead the state's oil spill recovery planning efforts, as chairman of the Alabama Coastal Recovery Commission.

In April 2012, Mathews was named to oversee Advance's New Orleans and Louisiana operations and was named president and publisher of The Times Picayune. "Later that year, we launched our new digitally-focused company," he said.  "I became president of Nola Media Group, with responsibility for The Times-Picayune and NOLA.com. Our digital efforts became ground zero for the massive change happening in the newspaper industry."  Last year, he was named president of Advance Southeast. 

"Through all of this, my wife Ann has been a saint," Mathews said.  "She was the one who managed our damaged home after Katrina, helped family members with their challenges and supported me through every decision."  He said he is looking forward to returning "with interest" the love and patience his wife, children and extended family and friends have invested in him.

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