Bill Gilmore joins The Meridian Star

Published 10:54 pm Wednesday, August 5, 2009

from staff reports



Western Pennsylvania native Bill Gilmore’s career has taken him to residences all over the United States — but now that he is in East Mississippi as The Meridian Star’s new director of advertising, he wants to stay put.

Jobs with different newspapers have taken Gilmore everywhere from Pensacola, Fla. to Toledo, Ohio. Most recently, he worked as the ad director at the daily newspaper in Florence, Ala.

After all that moving around, Gilmore said, “I’m hoping to stay in the same place with the same group.”

“I’ve heard a lot of good about the paper and community and that’s what attracted me,” said Gilmore, who began work on Monday.

Crystal Dupré, publisher of The Star, said Gilmore will be a great asset to East Mississippi.

“He brings a great deal of knowledge and professional experience to this newspaper,” Dupré said. “He’s worked for some good newspapers and he knows what it takes to be a success in this business … we’re excited to have him to lead our talented sales staff.”

Though Gilmore has only been working in Meridian for a couple of days, he and his family have made visits here, and he said they like the community.

“Moving around like I have with my career there’s things my family and I have learned to look for,” Gilmore said. “We look for stability, quality of schools, quality of life, parks and things like that… And of course from my wife and daughter’s standpoint, all the nice little boutique type shops. You don’t see that much anymore in a lot of markets.”

Another plus for the Gilmore family — Naval Air Station Meridian. Gilmore said that, though that might sound like a strange thing to look for in a community if you are not affiliated with the military, he’s found that cities with naval bases tend to be nice places to live.

Gilmore said he is excited to dive into his new job.

“I really look to help businesses in Meridian take advantage of the audience we deliver,” he said. “In the economic times we’re in, it’s more important than ever for businesses to make sure every advertising dollar is reaching the audience they need it to reach, and newspapers are the best way to reach those audiences.”

Gilmore has been married to his wife, Renee, for 24 years. They have a 12-year-old daughter, Katelyn, who is entering seventh grade.