Veteran newspaper man Otis Raybon has been named president and publisher of Brookhaven Newsmedia LLC, the Boone Newspapers Inc. affiliate in Brookhaven, and vice president of BNI.

Brookhaven Newsmedia publishes The Daily Leader, The Prentiss Headlight and affiliated websites and publications.

Raybon succeeds Rick Reynolds, who plans to return to Texas. Reynolds will continue in a consulting role with BNI.

A native of Griffin, Ga., Raybon most recently served as publisher of the Rome News-Tribune in Rome, Ga.

Outside of bagging groceries when he was growing up, Raybon’s entire career has been in the newspaper business, starting as a delivery boy for his hometown newspaper, The Griffin Daily News.

“Newspapers are the fabric of a community,” said Raybon. “I appreciate the rich heritage of The Daily Leader in the Brookhaven community and its role of helping make the quality of life here what it is.

“I look forward to working with the staff here to continue that tradition and to improve the newspaper and its website and add value to everything we do.”

Raybon and his wife, Barbara, are currently looking for a house here. “Barbara and I are very excited about coming to Brookhaven, and we have been told it is a very nice, friendly community, and we’ve felt that to be the case.”

The Raybons have two grown sons, Tilman Raybon and Will Raybon, and a daughter-in-law, Courtney, who is married to Will.

“We are pleased Otis and Barbara are joining us in Brookhaven. We have known Otis for some time and respected him and his work as a newspaper publisher,” said Todd Carpenter, president of Boone Newspapers Inc. “He and Barbara are first and foremost top quality people. They will be excellent additions to The Daily Leader family and to the Brookhaven community.”

In high school, Raybon worked in various roles at the Griffin newspaper, including taking photos and developing film and writing news and sports.

While at Georgia State University, his interest turned toward the business side of newspapers, and after college, he began working in the newspaper’s advertising department, eventually moving up to advertising manager.

His career took him to The Valdosta Daily Times and then to the Americus Times Recorder, where he became the publisher.

He later returned home as publisher of The Griffin Daily News.

In 1997, he moved to Dalton, Ga., to serve as president of the Northwest Georgia Strategic Marketing Group with Thomson Newspapers. The group published The Daily Citizen in Dalton, along with three weekly newspapers and a shopper.

Raybon became the vice president and chief operating officer of News Publishing Co. in 1998, and was named publisher of the Rome News-Tribune in May 2008.

Throughout his career, Raybon has been very active in community service. He served as chairman of the board of directors of the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce, as chairman of the Rome-Floyd Development Authority, as a member of the board of directors at Georgia Northwestern Technical College and as a board member for the Technical College System of Georgia.

He also was on the board of directors at the William S. Davies Homeless Shelter, served as a deacon at Rome First Baptist Church and was a former member of the Rome Rotary Club.

“Publishing a newspaper gives us the opportunity to better serve our communities,” Raybon said.

“A newspaper is a partnership with the community, and I look forward to the opportunity to build that partnership.”

Raybon welcomes community input. “I’ve always had an open door policy for community members and invite them to come by and tell me what they think about Brookhaven and The Daily Leader and how we can be of better service.”