Rob Runett, known to many by his email name, “Runer,” is leaving the NAA’s New Media Federation after eight years. He’s heading to Motley Fool, an irreverent investor site, where he’ll be working on premium services as manager of new product development.
Over the years, I’ve greatly valued Rob’s Daily Update, which predated the blog revolution. And it’s always been fun to participate at the annual Connections conference and vote in Rob’s Edgie awards. He’s also commissioned some great studies from me re: Yellow Pages, Portals, ecommerce and paid content.
Is there a reason to keep your membership in NAA “After Runer”? Well, Melinda Gipson is still there, and she’s a priceless resource. No one knows more about what newspapers are doing online, or lobbied harder to keep a seat at the table of online advertisers for newspapers — an uphill battle. You want Melinda on your side, always.
So maybe the NAA still has value. But truthfully, maybe the time has come and gone for the New Media Federation. As online has become “one” with corporate newspaper operations, the Federation has become a place for product people rather than decision-makers.
Thanks, Peter! Just a clarification so everyone knows that I won’t be running premium services – I’ll be part of the product development team that dreams up and executes new ideas.
And hey, NAA will find someone great to join the Federation team (yes, the hunt for a replacement is on). There are still plenty of reasons to hang with the NMF!
rob
Thanks, Peter, for giving Rob some of the recognition he deserves. Aside for being the industry’s repository for everything innovative (what we call “best practices,”) he’s the nicest, most thoughtful human being I’ve ever worked with, and he takes competence to a new level. Big shoes, brother, big shoes.