Ron Smith, founder of the communications company S&A Cherokee in Cary, has announced his retirement effective January 1, 2018. He will remain as a part owner of the company, having slowly ceded the day-to-day operational duties over the past year to Chuck Norman, APR, and Bill Zadeits, two other owners/principals.
Smith will remain a member of the management team, which includes Norman, Zadeits, Amanda Dunlap and Michael Colborn. The company has about 40 full- and part-time employees.
Smith founded Smith and Associates in 1982 and later started Cherokee Publishing Company in 1990. Smith and Associates was a full-service public relations firm and Cherokee Publishing produced magazines. Smith rebranded the company as S&A Cherokee in 2005 when all activities were established as one business entity.
S&A Cherokee now houses two divisions: S&A Communications, a public relations and marketing firm, and Cherokee Media Group, publisher of numerous print and digital publications, and organizer of several automotive industry trade conferences in the United States and Canada.
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