Rex Nelson has been promoted from his weekly column contract with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette to a full-time position as senior editor that will put his columns in print three days a week.
Nelson, who previously worked at the newspaper as both a reporter and editor, will begin his new position in the office Tuesday. His first column appears in the paper today.
His columns will publish Sundays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Nelson left his job as senior vice president and director of corporate communications at Simmons First National Corp., which he had held for two years, to take on his new role.
As senior editor, Nelson plans to travel the state looking for stories to tell. He will also have public speaking engagements.
"Rex has been doing a column for us once a week, and we get a tremendous number of positive comments on his columns. Rex probably knows the area as well as any journalist around today. He's been around for many, many years -- he travels all over the state," said Democrat-Gazette Publisher Walter Hussman. "As a statewide newspaper, we think his column is going to give us the kind of unique content that people can't get anywhere else."
Along with the addition of Nelson, the newspaper has promoted Associate Editor Karen Martin to Senior Editor/Perspective.
"This is outstanding news for the opinion section and our readers," editorial page editor David Barham said. "Both Karen and Rex have given, and will continue to give, our readers reasons to dive into the paper. Paul Greenberg, John Brummett, Rex Nelson, and all the others... . What a cast of characters. This should be fun."
Nelson is known for being an expert on Arkansas history and politics.
He is currently chairman of the Political Animals Club of Little Rock. He served as director of policy and communications under former Gov. Mike Huckabee. He also was Huckabee's campaign manager.
In 2005, President George W. Bush appointed Nelson as the alternate federal co-chairman of the Delta Regional Authority. In that role, he promoted economic development in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Illinois.
He previously has been the Washington, D.C., bureau chief for the Democrat-Gazette and an editor of Arkansas Business.
He writes and runs a blog, RexNelsonSouthernFried.com, that describes itself as "ruminations on barbecue, politicking, football, frog gigging, trotlining, blues playing, horse racing, boxing, bird hunting, movie watching, crappie eating and other major issues of the day."
Arkansans also may have heard Nelson regularly as a guest on various radio shows. He is also the play-by-play announcer for the Ouachita Baptist University Tigers on the "Voice of the Ouachita Football Network."
Nelson graduated from that college in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in mass communications.
Metro on 05/28/2017
