“Steve is an exceptional strategist who has made great contributions to our company and our family,” Morris said, “We are fortunate to have someone with his innovative and creative perspective and are very pleased to announce his new appointment.”

Gray was first hired by Morris as a strategy and innovation consultant in 2009 and became the director of strategy and innovation at Morris in 2012. His career began at his family’s newspaper in Monroe, MI, now 100% employee-owned, where he was a reporter, editor and president and still serves as chairman of the board. From 1998 to 2005, he was managing publisher of The Christian Science Monitor. In 2005, Gray joined Newspaper Next, a three-year innovation project of the American Press Institute that worked to identify new opportunities, technologies and detailed business initiatives for the newspaper industry.