Charlottesville, VA — Rob Jiranek, publisher of C-Ville Weekly and co-owner with Bill Chapman of parent company Portico Publications [Columbia (SC) Free Times and Augusta (GA) Metro Spirit], announced he will leave to join the daily Memphis Commercial Appeal as Vice President of Sales and Strategic Planning.

Frank Dubec, Associate Publisher and Advertising Director of C-Ville, will succeed Jiranek as Publisher. In addition, Vice President Steve Delgado has been promoted to President and Group Publisher of Portico Publications with oversight over all three weeklies as well as the company’s growth strategy.

“The Commercial Appeal is aggressively reinventing how it delivers value to readers and advertisers, and I’m excited to join their team and work to modernize our business in these adventurous times,” said Jiranek. He will report to Commercial Appeal President and Publisher Joe Pepe, who joined the Commercial Appeal from Pulitzer Newspapers in January and with whom Jiranek previously worked at Howard Publications.

“We will miss Rob’s passion and commitment to building C-Ville and Portico and we wish him the best of luck in his new endeavor. I am excited by what lies ahead as we pursue our goal of making our papers the best in their class on both the journalistic and business fronts,” said Chapman.

Contact: Steve Delgado
President & Group Publisher
Portico Publications
434/817-2749 x29