VINCENT M. VALVO
Return ‘feels great’
An award-winning journalist with more than 25 years of experience has been hired as the new publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
Vincent M. Valvo, 47, will join The Warren Group as its group publisher Nov. 19. Valvo spent eight years at The Warren Group before leaving in 2000 to become editor and publisher of Hartford-based Law Tribune Newspapers. The Warren Group is parent company of Banker & Tradesman in Massachusetts and The Commercial Record in Connecticut.
“It feels great returning to The Warren Group. It’s a company that has operated with the highest standards both in terms of what it provides to its customers and how it treats its employees,” said Valvo.
Valvo comes to The Warren Group after a year as the editor and online director of Worcester-based New England Business Media, which publishes the Hartford Business Journal and the Worcester Business Journal. As group publisher, Valvo will oversee the company’s sales, marketing, customer service, editorial and production departments.
“He has valuable publishing experience that can be leveraged with our existing data products Â… to develop new and industry-specific products and services to the markets that we serve,” said David Lovins, The Warren Group president.
The Warren Group first hired Valvo in 1992 to serve as associate publisher and editor of The Commercial Record and to run the company’s Connecticut office. Two years later, Valvo was named the newspaper’s publisher and editor, and in 1997 he added the title of associate publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
During his years with the company, Valvo launched a custom-publishing division for trade associations. Under his leadership, the division created about a dozen trade publications. He also organized the first BankWorld, an annual conference designed for professionals in the financial services industry, which The Warren Group still co-produces.
‘Great Potential’
Valvo said one of his immediate plans is to expand the association publications nationally, particularly those focused on banking. That could include partnering with banking associations beyond the Northeast, according to Valvo. The Warren Group currently publishes magazines for banking groups in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maine. It also collects and sells real estate data.
“Having [Valvo] be responsible for both the newspapers and data sales will allow him to be more creative and innovative in developing new products and services specific to the industries that we serve, as well as opening up new industries that are not currently being served. Having one person responsible will also allow us to have more efficient and effective decision-making and product development opportunities,” Lovins said.
Valvo said he wants to take a closer look at the electronic delivery of the company’s news products. Some ideas he will explore include creating specialized electronic newsletters.
“This is a company that has great potential. One of the very interesting things about it is how it fits right at the center of both journalism and information, which I think a lot of media companies would be interested in,” he said. “We have a fabulous opportunity to work with our customers and our readers to present a huge array of things for them to help them build their businesses.”
Valvo joins The Warren Group at a time when many publications are losing circulation and advertising revenue. Some in the publishing industry are struggling because their “leadership has been stuck doing things the way they’ve always done it and it’s also been stuck in delivering products that readers don’t want to read,” said Valvo.
Circulation, readership and advertising have increased at every company he has worked for, according to Valvo. “I don’t have any qualms that that’s what’s going to happen [at The Warren Group],” he said.
Before being hired by The Warren Group in 1992, Valvo worked as a freelance writer for The Commercial Record and other newspapers. He also operated the Connecticut State News Bureau, which served newspapers such as The Boston Herald.
Valvo’s work has been recognized by several organizations. In 2005, he received an award from the Society of Professional Journalists’ Connecticut chapter. The New England Press Association awarded him a first-place award for editorial writing for Banker & Tradesman in 1998.
Valvo lives in West Hartford with his wife Linda, 16-year-old daughter Alison and 14-year-old son Billy.
