MEN Media restructures top management team

by Ann-Marie Corvin, Media Week 07-Sep-07, 14:40

MANCHESTER - MEN Media has restructured its senior management team and has appointed Mark Rix to the newly created role of MEN Media’s managing director.

Formerly managing director of MEN Media sales, Rix now has profit and loss responsibilities for all of MEN Media’s operations, including the Manchester Evening News, which went partially free last May.

While the newspaper has increased its free circulation from 50,000 free copies in the city centre to 90,000 – extending its grasp to Manchester Airport and the region’s hospitals – Rix said that there were no plans to turn it into a wholly free paper. “There is still a significant demand for MEN as a paid-for. What the freesheet has done is help us engage a non-traditional readership,” said Rix.

Simon Toft, former deputy managing director of MEN Media Sales, has been appointed commercial director in the restructure. Toft takes charge of all MEN Media Sales operations for print, online and broadcast titles, as well as door-to-door activities.