CLARKSVILLE, Tenn (CLARKSVILLENOW) – A career Clarksville journalist will soon bring 27 years of news leadership experience to ClarksvilleNow.com.

Chris Smith, Leaf-Chronicle Editor and Regional News Director for USA TODAY Network-Middle Tennessee, will become Digital Director for 5 Star Media starting July 6.

“We are so excited to have Chris join the 5 Star team.  His news experience and leadership in the community makes him a valuable asset to our team and vision for Clarksvillenow,” says, Katie Gambill, General Manager.

Smith began his professional journalism career in 1993 as a copy editor at The Daily Home newspaper in Talladega, Alabama. He then worked for The Tallahassee (Florida) Democrat, where he was promoted to management roles.

He started with The Leaf-Chronicle in March 1999 as News Editor, supervising the editing and design team, and later was named Senior Editor, supervising reporters and photographers. In 2015, he was promoted to Regional News Director, leading editors in Clarksville, Murfreesboro, Jackson and Columbia, along with seven smaller publications surrounding Nashville.

For five years at The Leaf, he wrote a weekly parenting humor column called “Daddy On Board.” Smith is also a fiction writer; his novel, “Salamanders of the Silk Road,” was published by Lanternfish Press in 2016.

“After serving readers and my staff for 21 years with The Leaf and USA TODAY Network, I’ve done about everything I can do, from typing obits off of a fax machine to sifting through public documents as part of government investigations. I’m thrilled now to have an opportunity to try new things with a new audience,” Smith said.

“This is a chance to be part of creating something new in Clarksville journalism that, if we do it right, could help pave the way for more and better journalism in other cities, and I can’t wait to get started.”

Smith replaces Jessica Goldberg, recently hired as Director of Communications and Marketing for the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System.

Smith, an Auburn University graduate, is a 2008 graduate of Leadership Clarksville and a board member of Tennessee Associated Press Broadcast and Media Editors.

His wife, Kate Greene Smith, is Youth Services and Special Projects Coordinator for the Tennessee State Library and Archives. They have two adult children and one in high school, and they attend Trinity Episcopal Church.