SNI names new publishers in Lufkin and New Braunfels

Neice Bell and David Burck

Janice "Neice" Bell, 55, will become publisher of The Lufkin (Texas) News on July 1, and David Burck will become publisher of The Herald-Zeitung.

Burck, 44, has served as ad director of the New Braunfels paper for the past two years.

"I am really going to miss everyone in New Braunfels," Bell said. "It has been a wonderful place to work and live.

"Dave Burck is a great choice as publisher. I can't think of anyone who could do a better job. He is involved in the community, knows the newspaper business very well and is a natural leader," Bell said.

Burck said he is thrilled to have been chosen to take the reins as publisher of the Herald-Zeitung.

"I truly love New Braunfels and recognize the important role the paper has played in this community since 1852," Burck said. "I am excited for the opportunity to lead the paper's dedicated staff in delivering the very best products to our community."

Although Burck was born in Maine, he was mostly raised in Minnesota, where he worked for nearly 12 years in the telecommunication industry. He moved to Vermont for five years where he worked in land development and then for a short while in the energy field before relocating to New Braunfels. 

Burck started working for the Herald-Zeitung in February of 2012 as an account executive but was promoted to the retail sales manager position only a month later. In January 2013, he was again promoted, this time to the role of advertising director.

Burck and his wife Paula have been married 19 years. Paula owns her own business, The Gruene Witch, which makes and sells natural and organic skin care products.

Both the Herald-Zeitung and The Lufkin News are owned and managed by Southern Newspapers, Inc., of Houston. SNI is a family-owned Texas corporation. It operates 14 newspapers: 11 in Texas and three in Alabama.

Lissa Walls Vahldiek, Southern's CEO, said she is delighted Bell accepted the Lufkin position.

"The New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung and the communities it serves have greatly benefited from her leadership," Vahldiek said.

Vahldiek also said The Herald-Zeitung and the communities it serves are fortunate to have Dave assume the position of publisher.

"Dave is a talented, dynamic and creative leader who has earned the respect of his colleagues," Vahldiek said.

Bell, a native Texan, began her newspaper career at the Kerrville Daily Times, another SNI newspaper, in 1979. She worked her way up from part-time composing room employee to advertising director over 16 years at The Times.

She ran a group of four Boerne-based weekly newspapers and worked as ad sales manager in New Braunfels. In 2006 she was promoted to publisher of The Seguin Gazette and then to publisher of the Herald-Zeitung in 2012.

Bell and her husband Jeff have been married 11 years. They have two daughters, Shannon and Lyndsey, both 28, and two sons, Brad, 30, and Coby, 22.

Greg Shrader

"I've known Neice for more than 20 years," Shrader said. "She has built her career on serving the needs of the readers and advertisers in several different communities.

"I respect Neice's values and know she'll continue the News' mission of contributing to the betterment of Angelina County and Deep East Texas. She'll be a great addition to the News team," Shrader said.

"My husband Jeff and I are looking forward to moving to Lufkin and becoming a part of the community," Bell said. "I think it's very important to be active in the community and to give back to it. I know I have some big shoes to fill in attempting to replace Greg Shrader."

Vahldiek also thanked Shrader for his service.

"Greg's many contributions to SNI, to the newspapers he has worked with and the communities he has lived in are too numerous to list," she said. "I am deeply grateful for all he has done professionally and personally on behalf of SNI and my family."

Shrader, whose retirement becomes official on July 31, moved to Lufkin in 2009 when Southern purchased the newspapers in Lufkin and Nacogdoches.

Shrader began his Texas newspaper career in 1974 with the Houston Chronicle after graduating from the University of Texas. He held advertising management positions with the Bryan-College Station Eagle, The Abilene Reporter-News and The Galveston County Daily News before becoming publisher of the Kerrville Daily Times. 

Shrader is one of only three Texas newspaper publishers to serve as president of both the Texas Daily Newspaper Association and the Texas Press Association.

Laura Shrader is a board member of the Lufkin Adult Learning Center and the Angelina Arts Council. She currently works as a volunteer for the Museum of East Texas, Woodland Heights Hospital and the Shraders' church, Lufkin First United Methodist Church.