.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Last February, Connie Wimer called a staff meeting and told employees of Business Publications Corp. that she was planning to sell her business. She then made a series of promises. On Monday, Oct. 1, the staff met again. And Wimer, founder of the company that publishes the Des Moines Business Record, dsm magazine and a variety of custom publications, said she had made those promises to herself as well – and that they would all be kept.

Her promises included selling to someone who appreciated the quality of her company’s products and agreed that all jobs would be retained, understood service to the community and was not a chain. All those goals were met, she said when she announced the sale of her company, called BPC, to another BPC: Brown Publishing Co. of Cincinnati.

Roy Brown, 39, a third-generation member of a distinguished publishing family, said in the all-employee meeting, “Our future together is very bright, because we view you as market leaders.” The president and CEO explained why the Brown company, which made its reputation in the community newspaper business in Ohio, bought the Des Moines operation: “The acquisition is part of a strategic plan to diversify in the business journal, lifestyle magazine and Web site niche.” He added that this strategy included the recent purchase of the Fort Worth Business Press and Dan’s Papers Inc., which includes a Hamptons-based magazine and lively Web sites on New York’s Long Island. And he said Brown Publishing planned to buy more business newspapers in the next 12 months.

He added, “I’m from a family that understands public service, which is a big part of what your company does so well.” His grandfather, Clarence J. Brown, started the business in 1920 and was a member of the U.S. Congress from the 7th Congressional District in Ohio. His father was also a congressman and headed the company. Roy Brown is an attorney who grew up in Washington, D.C.

“Business will continue as usual,” he told employees. Wimer, an Iowa native who hails from Merrill and founded the company 25 years ago at the age of 50, will stay with the company as chairman until 2010. She echoed Brown’s business-as-usual sentiment when she said, “I’m happy to tell you all that tomorrow will be like every other day. I’ll be in my office.”

Janette Larkin, who grew up in Creston and is a graduate of Iowa State University, becomes publisher. Wimer said she felt “blessed the company is so healthy and the perfect publisher is on hand and ready to take the baton.” She added that she has worked with Larkin for almost seven years and witnessed an expertise “that comes from 30 years in the publishing industry in Central Iowa, as well as her commitment to the staff and community.”

Brown Publishing owns 18 daily newspapers, 28 weekly newspapers and 26 free weeklies, most in towns within a two-hour drive of Columbus, Ohio. “We want to purchase good, well-run operations,” Brown said. He lauded the local operation for “your good record at bringing in new products and making them profitable.”

As for what he called the “gloom and doom” talk about publishing as a profitable business, he said: “We’ve found, in a difficult credit market, that if you have a good business, gloom and doom don’t apply. Our business in Ohio has been strong and creditworthy. Our acquisitions add to our mix and make us stronger. Metro daily newspapers are big and getting smaller; we’re small and getting bigger because the structure of niche-market and community newspapers can adapt to changing business conditions.”

As for growth, the publishing company scion said: “People today want both print and Web sites. The business press is a must-read for those who want to keep up. And your Web-based Business Record Daily and weekly Commercial Real Estate Web newsletters are in place and doing well.”

Roy Brown has a history of success that started young. He was a four-year starter for the University of Virginia football team, where he was team captain and played as an offensive guard. “My mother would tell you I was named to the AP All-American second-string football team,” he said. He was also named to the all-Atlantic Coast Conference academic team.

His equally high-achieving brother, Clancy Brown, a.k.a. Clarence J. Brown III, is an actor with a long list of Hollywood credits and both a recognizable face and voice. “He was ‘the bad guard’ in ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ and he’s been the voice of Mr. Eugene H. Krabs in ‘SpongeBob SquarePants’ since 1999,” Roy Brown said. “My real claim to fame is that I can get you an autographed picture of Mr. Krabs.”

So does this not-yet-40-year-old have the same political ambitions as his father and grandfather? “Absolutely not,” he said. “I grew up in the capital and met every president from Nixon through Reagan and George Bush Sr. I have great memories of those years and of being there with Amy Carter when they rolled the Easter eggs down the lawn. I’m interested in issues, but prefer business to politics.

“I’m delighted Connie is staying on and Janette is publisher,” he told employees. “Your reputation in the business press community is second to none. And the tone of your editorial content supports that.”