Steve Stewart, leader of Boone Newspapers’ East Coast Group since 2008, has moved to Suffolk to devote more time to his duties as president of Suffolk Publications LLC and publisher of the Suffolk News-Herald, Suffolk Living and related digital products.

Stewart, 46, and his wife, Rhonda, relocated from Franklin, where he has published The Tidewater News since 2006. Stewart will continue in his role as vice president of Boone Newspapers Inc., with responsibility for the media company’s affiliates in Virginia and North Carolina.

“This is an exciting time to be in Suffolk and to lead the News-Herald,” Stewart said. “Rhonda and I look forward to the terrific quality of life that Suffolk affords, and professionally, I get the opportunity to be more deeply involved with a newspaper and community media company that has seen explosive readership growth in recent years.

“Editor Res Spears and his team produce outstanding products that are read by four out of five Suffolk adults. Our newspaper has served the people of Suffolk for 140 years, but our brand is fresher and more relevant than ever. I’m energized by the opportunity to be part of it, to tell our success story to the business community.”

Stewart, a McComb, Miss., native, graduated from the University of Mississippi with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism and was the inaugural John Emmerich Fellow at the University of Oxford in England. He edited and published community newspapers in his native Mississippi before participating in Boone Newspapers’ acquisition of The Tidewater News in 2006.

Stewart has won numerous awards from the Virginia Press Association for editorial and column writing and was a finalist for the 2012 Carmage Walls Commentary Prize, awarded by the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.

He is a former president of the Rotary Club of Franklin and current president of the Board of Managers for the James L. Camp Jr. YMCA in Franklin. He has served on the boards of the Franklin-Southampton Area United Way, the Texie Camp Marks Children’s Center, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeast Virginia Franklin Unit, and the Franklin City Education Foundation. He is a Paul Harris Fellow in Rotary.

Stewart can be reached at steve.stewart@suffolknewsherald.com or 934-9605.

Rhonda Stewart will continue her duties as executive director of the Village at Woods Edge retirement community in Franklin. She is secretary of the Bronco Federal Credit Union Board of Directors and a former board member for the Western Tidewater Free Clinic.

The Stewarts recently purchased a home on Lake Cohoon.