Archant didn't take long to plug the gap left by its departing chief executive John Fry. It has appointed Adrian Jeakings, the current finance director, as his successor. He will take over once Fry leaves at the end of this year for his ceo post at Johnston Press.
So what do we know of Jeakings? He is an accountant who was previously finance director at the Stationery Office and prior to that held "senior roles" at Schlumberger, the oilfield services corporation, and Dun & Bradstreet, the credit information provider. His newspaper experience is confined to his six years with Archant.
Jeakings said of his appointment: "I am delighted to have the opportunity to further develop the business. Archant has modest borrowings, a robust digital strategy, excellent brands, and a dedicated and dynamic team. Whilst these are challenging times for consumer media businesses I believe we are well placed to make further progress when conditions improve".
I know we have to refer to newspapers nowadays as brands, largely because of their multi-platform status, but I just wish Jeakings - in assuming control of a newspaper group - had seen fit to use that word, not to mention a few more: journalism, journalists and news.
It wasn't a great start for the man who will oversee such excellent titles as the East Anglian Daily Times and the Eastern Daily Press.
