Louvenia “Lou” Brandt joined the Shore Publishing/Zip06.com team as associate publisher on March 2, taking on many of the roles previously held by former publisher Robyn Wolcott and former advertising director Ed Majersky. Please join the Shore team in welcoming her to the community.

At the time of this writing, I’m completing my first week as Shore Publishing’s new associate publisher, and I’m feeling very lucky to inherit a staff that’s so positive and good at doing what they do. This crew is a credit to the leadership of Robyn Wolcott, who has left big shoes to fill.

My immediate focus as associate publisher will be on sales processes, first learning how things work here and then finding opportunities for improvements for advertisers and staff. A Rhode Island native, I worked for 30 years in auto sales in Virginia before returning to New England, where I got my start in newspaper advertising. In 2007, I joined the Norwich Bulletin as an auto rep, moving up to digital sales manager, then digital and retail sales, and concluding as ad director.

At Shore, I’m not here to shake everybody’s world up, but I hope to bring in some new ideas to better serve advertisers, particularly through digital advertising. My goal in the coming weeks and months is to get to know the businesses, learn what their goals are, and help our sales executives find the best way to help advertisers achieve results.

I currently live in Baltic, though as the beach is my favorite place, I’m finding this an especially welcoming community to work in. This spring, I plan to spend at least one day on the road with each of our sales executives, so I’m looking forward to learning more about each town and meeting with advertisers and readers in the coming months.

- Lou Brandt