David Porter

About

I have broad experience as a newspaper publisher and editor, writer, designer and communications and marketing director.I have more than 20 years managing daily and weekly newspapers including ownership of three community newspapers and have won more than 40 first place awards for writing, reporting, design and photography plus six national awards for Best Humor Column. This experience includes designing four start-up newspapers.At age 25, was recruited by the Illinois Press Association, where I served as Director of Communications and Marketing building brand awareness, working with government relations and advertising. Served as Illinois chair for National Newspaper Week and on the Governor’s Task Force for Civic Education. Was our in-house expert on News Literacy and wrote a primer on the subject for Illinois high schools; also engaged in public speaking including at a national conference in New York. Was the creative lead on an innovative electronic contest system that is used by press associations throughout the U.S. Managed crisis communications, external press releases, magazine production and presented frequently on the First Amendment. Was part of a team focused on a rewrite of the Illinois Open Meetings Act and consulted with the Illinois Bar Association and Illinois Historic Preservation Agency on publicity campaigns. Wrote and produced a kids' coloring book about newsprint recycling with over 100,000 distributed at no cost. Lead grant writer for $200,000 in News Literacy and First Amendment award.Also served as a communications consultant on a successful campaign for U.S. Congress.Social media experience includes managing multiple corporate pages simultaneously and creating a popular, revenue-generating, local history group on Facebook, where I have digitized and shared more than 4,000 photos at no cost.Took a four-year break to lead a family-owned corporation that repurposed a 70,000-square-foot former school building into an antique and craft mall, office space, restaurant, etc. Newspaper writing, editing, photography, layout. Column writing. Quark XPress, InDesign. LightRoom PhotoShop. Newspaper design. Mac computers. Top 5 percent in Linkedin's proficiency exam for InDesign.