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SDN welcomes Mercier as new ad director

Jane Stebbins

FRISCO – Summit Daily News Publisher Mike Bennett is smiling again.

Bennett has been pulling double duty as publisher and advertising director at the paper since former ad director Steve McKenzie moved to Denver in March. Now, with Dave Mercier on board as the new ad director, Bennett plans a retreat to his publisher’s office.

Mercier, who started work at the Daily on Monday, majored in journalism and minored in marketing at Iowa State University in Ames, graduating in 1981. He branched out into the advertising realm early, primarily because “it seemed like the ad folks were having more fun than the editorial folks.”



“David will be a great addition to the Summit Daily News and the community,” Bennett said. “We were fortunate to recruit an advertising director with this kind of expertise. Our advertisers and advertising staff will benefit from his knowledge.”

His first job was as an account executive at the Castle Rock News Press, where he worked until 1984. At that point, he took a job at the Denver Post as the territory account executive and was later promoted to major accounts, where he worked to meet the advertising needs of the major furniture companies in Denver.



In his 10 years with the Post, Mercier worked as the coordinator for special sections and for total market coverage, territory sales manager, major accounts manager and as a commercial print manager. In that position, he oversaw production of the television guide for the newspaper and contract jobs for King Soopers, Joslins and Gart Bros., among others.

At that point, Mercier realized he’d gone about as far as he could at the Post, especially since all those who held positions above his were about his age and had no plans to leave.

So in 1994, he left the Denver newspaper for the Palm Springs Desert Sun, a California newspaper with a circulation of 50,000. There, he worked as an retail advertising manager until 1998, when he moved to Abilene, Texas, to work as an ad director.

“It wasn’t Texas (the reason for moving),” he said. “It was the man I was going to work for. He seemed like a real quality person, and I got there and found out I was right.”

Mercier worked there until this year, rising through the ranks from ad director to vice president of sales and marketing to publisher.

Mercier was looking for a place to live that was more in line with his lifestyle when he learned about the opening at the Summit Daily News.

“West Texas is a nice place,” Mercier said. “But you can’t ski there, you can’t hike there. I never expected to stay there that long. But I kept getting promotions; it would have been silly to turn them down.”

Throughout his career, Mercier has amassed a variety of awards, including Gannett Newspaper’s regional retail advertising manager of the quarter award and Colorado Press Association awards.

Mercier also has been active with the United Way of Abilene and has served on various boards, including the Abilene Chamber of Commerce, the Texas Midwest Community Network Advisory Board and the Abilene Industrial Foundation Board.

Mercier said he’s looking forward to working with the Summit Daily’s ad staff.

“They seem like a great group of folks,” he said. “I want to lend the newspaper and people I work with my expertise and help the newspaper be as successful as it can. I come with a real tenacity and sales attitude. Obviously, we put out an editorial product, but for this to be a business, we need to turn a great product into a profit.”

Mercier’s wife, Sonny, and their 10-year-old daughter, Annie, will move here in mid-June when Annie finishes fourth grade in Texas. Sonny has worked at the Writer Corp., and at Cushman and Wakefield as a commercial real estate appraiser, a career she hopes to continue in the High Country.

The couple enjoys home-improvement projects, biking, hiking, skiing and golf. Annie participates in soccer and softball.

Mercier can be reached at (970) 668-3998, extension 225. His e-mail address is

dmercier@summitdaily.com.

Jane Stebbins can be reached at (970) 668-3998 ext. 228 or jstebbins@summitdaily.com.


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