Furniture industry publishing veteran Susan A. Jones has been named publisher of award-winning Lighting & Decor, underscoring the emergent brand’s expanding position in a fast-changing landscape.
Launched 18 months ago, Lighting & Decor has quickly garnered industry recognition, capturing a 2017 Folio: Ozzie Award for Best New B to B Magazine Design, a 2017 Folio: Eddie Digital Award Honorable Mention, a 2018 Jesse H. Neal Award Finalist Best Overall Art Direction/Design Category and honors for its group publisher in the Folio Magazine 2018 Class of Top Women in Media Motivator’s category. The only one-stop information source covering the lighting and home furnishings markets, the glossy monthly reaches 40,000 unique purchase influencers with its print or digital editions.
“We identified a need in the marketplace with Lighting & Decor following a documented industry trend that saw more and more lighting showrooms becoming multi-category stores,” says Diane Vojcanin, Vice President and Group Publisher. “With our additional focus on the interior design community and fresh approach, it wasn’t long before we saw potential to grow our presence in the traditional furniture business as well. Indeed, it has quickly become clear that executives across all home furnishings categories are seeking alternatives, both as information sources and as effective marketing vehicles for their businesses.”
Jones, a resident of Chapel Hill, NC, who was most recently Director of Home & Gift at the Dallas Market Center, a leading trade-show venue, has spent the better part of her career in home furnishings trade advertising sales. She got her start in publishing in 2000 as Eastern Sales Manager for the U.S. and Canada at Home Textiles Today in New York, and later became a Regional Sales Manager for its sister, Furniture Today in Greensboro, NC, where she was eventually promoted to Associate Publisher of that weekly newspaper, as well as Publisher of Kids Today Magazine. She is a graduate of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and worked for a time as an Associate Research Analyst in the brokerage industry following graduation before pursuing her passion in publishing.
“I’ve long admired Scranton Gillette Communications as a forward-thinking company and I feel as though I am literally coming home,” Jones says. “Given that I’ve spent the past 17 years in the furniture business, and the past year getting to know the lighting industry in my role at the Dallas Market Center, this is truly a perfect fit. The opportunity to work with Lighting & Decor’s team of editors and creatives is very exciting. Editor-In-Chief Nicole Davis and Managing Editor Alison Martin have done a phenomenal job of creating what is already an award-winning publication and I’m thrilled at the prospect of working with them to further grow this brand. I’m also happy to be working closely again with Kimberley Wray, who serves as editorial consultant for the magazine and who is also based here in North Carolina.”
Jones, who officially begins her new role today, reports to Vojcanin, who says, “Everyone is searching for what’s new and what’s next. Lighting & Decor is the platform the home furnishings industry has been waiting for and we took our time in our search for a publisher to ensure that we made the right move both for our business and the industry at large. I’m thrilled to welcome Susan Jones to our team.”
“The lines between vendors, suppliers and retailers continue to blur, as do the various lanes in which companies do business today, from hospitality to building to architecture and design,” sums Rick Schwer, President of Scranton Gillette Communications, a fourth-generation family-owned business-to-business communications company that in addition to Lighting & Decor encompasses multiple titles across the building, construction and design industries. “As the landscape shifts at an ever-increasing pace, the old ways of approaching business are no longer sufficient. We believe Lighting & Decor is uniquely positioned to effectively serve multiple constituencies moving forward, and we’re thrilled to have Susan on board to help lead the charge.”