Veteran Iowa newspaperman to lead The Red Oak Express

 Veteran Iowa newspaperman Brad Hicks is the new publisher and editor of The Red Oak Express.

He is relocating to Montgomery County from Ennis, Texas, a small city south of Dallas, where he and his wife, Sue, have lived for a little more than a year.

“Sue and I were pulled back to Iowa because of family,” Hicks said. “We are looking forward to becoming a part of the community.”

He said The Express is a very good community newspaper.

“In my brief time here, I’ve found a staff that is talented, responsible and committed to customers. They want to produce an excellent product. It doesn’t get any better than that.

“My goal at The Express is to make it the best paper we can in terms of service to the community,” he said. “We want to be relevant to and reflective of the community, and we want to be responsible to the readership. Hopefully, people will find our products educational, entertaining, enterprising and effective.”

Hicks has spent most of his life in Iowa. He graduated from high school in Jefferson and earned a degree in journalism from Iowa State University.

His newspaper work started in high school, when he wrote sports for his hometown paper. In college, he worked in sports information and wrote sports on an assignment basis for newspapers in Ames and Slater.

After serving as the news editor at dailies in Vinton and Mount Pleasant in eastern Iowa, he became managing editor of the Faribault Daily News in Faribault, Minn. In 1992, he became the associate publisher of the Hampton Chronicle in north central Iowa. He later became publisher and then president and CEO of Hampton-based Mid-America Publishing Corporation, parent company of the Chronicle. While leading that company, he oversaw redevelopment of the printing portion of the business and worked to expand the company from eight to 24 printed titles.

He had a two-year absence from the newspaper business while serving as the economic development director for Wright County from 2012 to 2014. He found his way back into the newspaper business when he became publisher of The Ennis Daily News in 2014. 

In terms of the newspaper industry, he served as a board member, officer, and president of the Iowa Newspaper Foundation. He was involved for nearly 10 years in theIowa Newspaper Association’s Government Relations Committee, which accomplished creation of the Iowa Public Information Board in 2013. He has won numerous state writing, reporting and photography awards and was presented the newspaper association’s highest honor, its Master Editor-Publisher Award, in 2005.

While in Hampton for two decades, Hicks was heavily involved in the community, serving as a leader, officer and board member for the economic development, chamber, tourism, country club, county fair foundation and church boards. 

His wife, Sue, is a graduate of Drake University with a degree in journalism. They have two sons. Joshua is a 2015 graduate of the University of Iowa and lives in Iowa. Aaron is a student at the University of Northern Iowa and will graduate later this year.

Hicks is an avid golfer and sports fan. In Hampton, he served as the public address announcer for the home high school football, basketball and track events. He coached youth sports and previously officiated high school and junior high basketball. While in Hampton, he was a member of the Kiwanis Club.