Sep. 19—Aiken Standard Publisher RJ Benner was welcomed to the area Monday evening.

The newspaper hosted a meet and greet for Benner, who began his role as publisher and advertising director Sept. 12.

Benner said he was looking forward to building and maintaining relationships in the community.

"I definitely want to be active," he continued. "You're going to see me out and about quite a bit at a lot of events and functions. My idea is to integrate myself into the community, learn a lot and to be a steward for this thing you all have given me."

Benner has worked in newspapers since 2013. He began with Lee Enterprises as a sales manager/advertising director and also served as regional advertising director in Albany, Oregon, and as general manager in Coos Bay before a stint as senior group publisher/director of sales and marketing for Gannett in Arkansas.

Most recently, Benner worked for Sound Publishing as group publisher and sales director of The Whidbey News-Times, South Whidbey Record and Whidbey Crosswind in Coupeville, Washington.