Chris Bell is the new circulation manager for the Lawrence Journal-World.

Bell, former circulation manager for the Anderson Independent-Mail in South Carolina, is responsible for distribution services for the Journal-World and eight community weekly newspapers that also are owned by The World Company: Baldwin City Signal, Basehor Sentinel, Bonner Springs-Edwardsville Chieftain, De Soto Explorer, Eudora News, Lansing Current, Shawnee Dispatch and Tonganoxie Mirror.

“This is a great opportunity,” Bell said. “We are doing things here that the big companies are only talking about, and that is providing local coverage to all of our markets – including our weeklies – and providing the best available news source to our entire community. We just have to let people know that we’re providing it to them.”

Bell oversees 45 employees and 100 contract carriers at the Journal-World, which has a daily circulation of 19,155 and a Sunday circulation of 19,097.

“The World Company is very fortunate to have someone with Chris’ experience join the company,” said Al Bonner, corporate advertising and marketing director. “Journal-World subscribers will benefit from his focus on excellent delivery service. Advertisers will benefit from his attention to increasing the number of subscribers.

“We are already seeing home delivery increases in excess of 5 percent over last year, and expect that kind of growth to continue in 2006. Chris inherited a talented and dedicated staff and newspaper carriers. I am confident his leadership will make our efforts and results here in Douglas County, and in all of our community newspaper markets, be the envy of newspapers across the country.”

Bell joined the Independent-Mail, a Scripps Howard newspaper, as single-copy manager in 1998 and spent the past five years as its circulation manager. He was inducted into the newspaper’s Hall of Fame after receiving two awards of excellence and one publisher’s award within three years; he also was a member of the Scripps Howard President’s Club.

Bell previously worked 10 years as a district manager for the Evansville Courier & Press in Indiana, also a Scripps Howard operation. His accomplishments included 13 consecutive “district manager of the month” awards.

Bell attended college at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville.

He and his wife, Erin Bell, have three children: Kristen, who will be a seventh-grader at Southwest Junior High School; Brandon, who will be a third-grader at Hillcrest School; and Trisha, who will be a second-grader at Hillcrest.