Almost 40-year Jacksonville business journalist Karen Mathis has been named editor of the Financial News & Daily Record.
Mathis’ appointment this week was among a series of editorial staff changes that the Daily Record’s new owner and publisher, Matt Walsh, has implemented since acquiring the paper in mid-January.
In addition to Mathis’ promotion, Walsh announced the appointments of Monty Zickuhr to managing editor, Max Marbut to associate editor-legal affairs and David Cawton as staff writer.
“I’ve known Karen and followed Karen’s work for close to 30 years,” Walsh said. “Karen is a force in the business community here, the face of the Daily Record and the reason the Daily Record is full of valuable content five days a week.
“I’m thrilled for Karen, and feel lucky to have as our editor,” Walsh said.
Mathis will oversee the Daily Record’s editorial operations and staff, as well as the company’s monthly, Realty-Builder Connection, and website, jaxdailyrecord.com.
She also will continue to cover the commercial real-estate industry and its connection with economic development.
“I’ve watched Matt Walsh’s career throughout my years in Jacksonville and have always respected his writing, insight, analysis, tenacity and integrity. He inspires our team and is leading us to new goals,” she said.
Mathis previously worked seven years as managing editor of the Daily Record. Before that, she spent almost 30 years as a business writer, columnist and editor at The Florida Times-Union.
She also spent more than two years as executive director of the Dreams Come True nonprofit and about two years as a producer and anchor at WJCT TV-7.
A native of the St. Louis area and a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Mathis is married to retired Circuit Court Judge E. McRae Mathis and they have two adult sons.
She has been involved in numerous Jacksonville organizations, including the Meninak Club of Jacksonville, Leadership Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Women’s Network, the World Affairs Council of Jacksonville and the Economic Roundtable of Jacksonville.
Zickuhr previously served 18 years at The Florida Times-Union, most recently as its primary front-page designer. He also designed pages in the Times-Union’s Life, Money, Reason and Jack sections.
A native of Visalia, Calif., Zickuhr is a graduate of Washington State University. Before moving to Jacksonville, he also served as an editorial designer for the Columbus, Ga., Ledger-Enquirer.
Zickuhr is responsible for the design and production of the Daily Record and assists Mathis with editing and editorial-content planning. Zickuhr is married and has three children, an 11-year-old son and twin 8-year-old daughters.
Marbut, a 55-year resident of Jacksonville, has been a reporter and writer at the Daily Record since 2005. Before that, he served as editor and associate publisher for First Coast Entertainer and EU magazine.
Marbut’s focus at the Daily Record will be everything related to law, the courts and the Duval County courthouse, including covering the region’s Bar associations; law firms; legal trends; judges and the courts; and Duval County’s constitutional offices of the clerk, supervisor of elections, property appraiser and tax collector.
Marbut also will continue to write his “50 years ago” column and will be in charge of compiling a business calendar.
A native of Jacksonville Beach, Cawton is a 2013 graduate of Jacksonville University and earned a master’s degree in interactive media from Quinnipiac University in 2016.
Before joining the Daily Record a month ago, Cawton served as a TV reporter, anchor and producer in Austin, Texas; Little Rock, Ark.; and Monroe, La.
Cawton’s responsibility at the Daily Record is government and politics, with an emphasis on the intersection of business and government — how state and local government decisions affect business. He also will cover economic development.
Mark Basch continues as a contributing writer covering public companies and the economy and producing his weekly Basch Report.