Gannett veteran takes on leadership role in Southwest Florida
A Gannett veteran is taking over the reins as one of the company’s market leaders in Southwest Florida.
The media giant tapped Tom Claybaugh for the top position in Naples, with the start of the new year.
Born and raised in Rochester, New York, Claybaugh has been with Gannett for more than 32 years. He started as a sales executive, working his way up through the ranks to become a publisher.
As a publisher and president, he moved around within the Gannett family, with stints at its media properties in various states, including Ohio, New York, the Carolinas and Tennessee.
In his most recent job, he served as a regional vice president for sales and a senior business leader for marketing solutions for the USA TODAY Network in western New York, based at the Democrat and Chronicle, a daily newspaper in Rochester.
Previously, he’d worked three times in advertising and sales for the Democrat and Chronicle. It’s where he planned to finish out his long, successful career and retire one day, with family living nearby, including children and grandchildren.
That is until the opportunity for a leadership role in Southwest Florida came knocking.
“I never saw it coming,” said Claybaugh, 62, in a phone interview.