President & CEO — LINK Media

Location: Northern Kentucky (in-person required)

Compensation: Negotiable base salary and performance-based bonuses. 

Reports to: Managing Board of Directors

Direct reports: Executive Editor, VP of Revenue

About LINK Media

LINK nky is a fast-growing, independent local news organization dedicated to serving Northern Kentucky with high-quality journalism and civic engagement initiatives. Since launching in 2021, LINK has become the go-to source for trusted news, innovative storytelling, and thoughtful community conversations. We’re proud to be community owned, mission-driven, and focused on building a stronger, more connected NKY.

What We’re Looking For

We’re seeking our next President & CEO — someone who’s passionate about community, excited about the future of local news, and ready to lead LINK into its next phase of growth and sustainability. You’ll inherit a solid foundation: a strong editorial team, stable operations, and a supportive board. LINK has successfully moved through the startup phases of growth. The next leader will create substantial revenue by generating corporate support, advertising revenue and other creative revenue sources.  

What You’ll Do

• Set and execute LINK’s strategic direction in partnership with the managing board and leadership team
• Guide sales operations, innovating product offerings and ensuring LINK stays at the cutting edge of what our advertisers want
• Future-proof LINK, keeping focus on new technologies, how our readers are getting the news they need, and how LINK can continue its mission while using technology as a trusted team member
• Build and nurture relationships with civic, university, and government partners
• Support and empower the Executive Editor and VP of Revenue to excel in their roles
• Lead major fundraising efforts, including securing grants, major donors, and business partnerships
• Oversee operations, HR policies, and systems that help the team do their best work
• Serve as the main point of contact for the Managing Board and run bi-monthly meeting
• Explore opportunities to dynamically change the business model or further scale the model to other communities.  

What You Bring

• Experience leading or scaling lean, entrepreneurial mission-driven organizations
• Strong enterprise sales and fundraising skills 
• A love for working within systems and processes that help organizations run smoothly
• Collaborative leadership style that builds trust and brings out the best in teams
• Commitment to local communities — especially Northern Kentucky
• A passion for independent journalism and the role it plays in a healthy community

Bonus Points If You…

• Have experience with or a working knowledge of Northern Kentucky’s civic and business landscape
• Have worked within the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS) or similar frameworks

You'll Need to Share Our Mission and Uphold Our Guiding Principles

Mission: LINK Media advances Northern Kentucky in the region, the commonwealth and the nation by providing transformative coverage of the news of the day with focus on the deeper issues that matter most to our community. 

Guiding Principles:

We are:

Solutions-Focused: We don’t just report the news of the day. We dig deeper, informing our audience about how our community might solve its biggest issues. 

Unapologetic NKY Fans: We believe in this community—in what it is today, and what it has the potential to become. We want to see this community advance, and we understand the part that we play in that advancement. 

Inclusive: We explore the issues that affect all of Northern Kentucky, and give a voice to the diverse corners of our community, whether that diversity is economic, political, geographic or otherwise. 

Good Stewards: It is our responsibility to make good use of our resources and to maintain a sustainable business model, so that we may serve the community long into the future.  

Independent: We do not make endorsements, or publish our own opinions, about the issues that are facing Northern Kentucky. In addition to our reporting, outside opinions from multiple viewpoints will be sought, and clearly marked as such, in order to provide the robust debate that our community needs to make critical decisions about our collective future.

LINK is an equal opportunity employer. LINK prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type and affords equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. LINK conforms to the spirit as well as to the letter of all applicable laws and regulations.