Snyder leaving key post at CR

Mike Snyder, who has been with The Commercial Review for more than 25 years, is leaving his position as managing editor on Friday, July 12.
A Richmond native and graduate of Franklin College, Snyder joined The CR staff in December 1987 as sports editor. He was named news editor in September 1997, and became managing editor in November 2005.
Snyder is planning to pursue other career opportunities in central Indiana.
During his tenure, Snyder earned awards for newspaper design, photography, and writing in the Hoosier State Press Association Better Newspaper contest.
“Mike will be missed,” editor and publisher Jack Ronald said Friday. “He’s an outstanding, detail-oriented editor, and he has taken very seriously the newspaper’s role as a watchdog. Few people inside or outside the Jay County Courthouse have as much knowledge about the workings of local government.”
Ronald said Ray Cooney will become the daily newspaper’s managing editor following Snyder.
Cooney, a graduate of Cleveland State University, joined The CR in early 2001 as sports editor. He was given the additional title of assistant managing editor in November of 2005.
Like Snyder, Cooney has received a number of honors from the Hoosier State Press Association for his work in journalism. In January of 2012, he received the Distinguished Media Service Award in District II from the Indiana High School Athletic Association.
A native of Avon, Ohio, he worked as a reporter and sports writer for The Chronicle-Telegram in Elyria, Ohio, before joining The CR.
“Ray leaves some big shoes to fill as sports editor,” Ronald said.
He said Chris Schanz has joined The CR’s staff in that role.
Schanz, 27, graduated from Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in sports studies.
At CMU, he wrote for Central Michigan Life, the university’s student-run newspaper and also volunteered for the CMU athletics department covering baseball and men’s and women’s basketball.
A Michigan native, he previously worked as a freelance writer and photographer for The Township View in Saginaw, Mich. He also worked as a line cook and corporate trainer for Bennigan’s restaurants, where he trained staff for new restaurants in Texas, New Jersey, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Schanz enjoys listening to music, photography, riding his bicycle and spending time with his niece, Taylor.

New administrator named at Miller’s
Tori Kinley has been named the new administrator at Miller’s Merry Manor in Dunkirk.
She is an Indiana University graduate with a bachelor’s degree in health administration. She has been with the company for a year, working at both the Sullivan and Plymouth facilities.
Kinley was born in Irving, Texas, and was raised in Fishers, Indiana.

POET to lobby
POET has hired a director of federal affairs who will be opening a Washington, D.C., office to lobby on behalf of the renewable biofuel industry in Congress.
Rob Walther, who has held several energy-related positions in Washington, is a graduate of Dartmouth College with a law degree from Brooklyn Law School.[[In-content Ad]]