Rust Communications president selected for state newspaper Hall of Fame

Publisher of the Southeast Missourian and president of Rust Communications Jon K. Rust will be a 2022 inductee into the Missouri Press Association Newspaper Hall of Fame.

Hailed as an industry innovator and community stalwart, Rust and two others will join the hall during the association's annual convention and trade show Sept. 16 in Lake Ozark.

During his career, Rust has served in a number of national leadership positions with organizations such as The Associated Press and Local Media Association.

Thomas Curley, former president and CEO of AP, said Rust served on the group's board of directors from 2006 to 2015. He rose to vice chairman of the board and chaired the group's technology committee.

"In very short order, Jon rose to fill one of the most pivotal roles in AP board history by helping win over some of the nation's largest publishers on a digital strategy for AP," Curley noted.

Nancy Lane, CEO of Local Media Association, praised Rust's dedication to details.

"Jon didn't just serve on our boards. He was a roll-the-sleeves-up kind of leader who was truly there to help the industry transform," she said.

Rust served as chairman of the group's board, and in 2018, the group honored his efforts.

"Jon is one of the best human beings I know," Lane said. "He is kind, thoughtful and incredibly smart. We created a service award in his name when he finished his last year on the board."

Rust said his staff share in the honor.

"I am extremely honored and humbled by this recognition, which really goes to all the good and talented people I've had the chance to work with at Rust Communications over the years," Rust said. "Still, we have a lot more to do. These are certainly challenging, interesting and exciting times. Thankfully, we have a great team moving into the future."

Innovation

Focused on innovation over his career, Rust has partnered with some of the largest technology companies in the world, including Google and Meta, on various projects. He has been a frequent speaker before groups such as Local Media Association, Google News Initiative, National Newspaper Association and Inland Press, among others, on forward-thinking ways of growing the industry.

A collaboration with Southeast Missouri State University's student publication, Southeast Arrow, transformed the university's mass media program, now located in the Rust Center for Media.

"It would not have been possible without the support that Jon has consistently and personally provided," said Tamara Zellars Buck, chairwoman of the university's Mass Media Department.

Career

As a child, Rust worked in his father's weekly newspaper in Cape Girardeau, performing all manner of odd jobs.

In middle school, he gravitated to the journalism side of the business. He served as an editor of his high school newspaper and of the Daily Tar Heel at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar.

After graduating from UNC, he lived and worked in Russia and Ukraine, as the Soviet Union fell, and he represented the United States in a series of debates across that country.

Returning to the U.S., Rust joined the staff of the Southeast Missourian as editorial page editor and later as a capital correspondent in Washington, D.C. He also led newspaper operations in Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri as publisher or consultant.

He would go on to earn an MBA from Harvard University, where he graduated with distinction. While there, he served as president of the Leadership and Ethics Forum. He earned a Dean's Research Fellowship, which allowed him to join the school's staff for a year to write cases and textbook chapters on internet media.

Returning to Cape Girardeau in 2000, Rust would become co-president of Rust Communications in 2003, serving in that capacity with his late brother, Rex, after their father, Gary Rust Sr., retired from day-to-day operations.

Rust Communications has grown significantly over the years and now includes more than 20 newspapers and dozens of websites in seven states, as well as magazines and minority ownership of 17 radio stations. Since 2004, Rust has also been publisher of the Southeast Missourian.

Rust, whose community service has been extensive, was nominated by his father, a 2003 Missouri Press Hall of Fame inductee.

"[Jon] is a quiet but strong leader and never a self-promoter. He humbly serves others, his family, his church and his community with honor and the utmost integrity," the elder Rust wrote in a nominating letter. "I am so incredibly proud of him as a son, a father, a man of faith and as a leader in the community and the newspaper industry."

Kenneth Dobbins, president emeritus of Southeast Missouri State University, praised Jon Rust's leadership.

"Jon's professional experiences have given him unique insights to all aspects of the current newspaper industry and a glimpse of where it may be going in the future," he wrote. "Time after time, his actions support accurate and independent reporting of news while at the same time providing leadership in developing future journalists."

Jon Rust's involvement in community organizations has included stints on the boards of Downtown Cape Girardeau Community Improvement District, Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce, Cape Girardeau County Industrial Development Authority and Southeast Missouri University Foundation.

He and his wife, Victoria Alexandrovna Vygodskaia-Rust, have four daughters.

Other 2022 hall of fame inductees are the late Joe Gravely, former publisher of the Bolivar Free Press; and Dana Raker, former editor of the Holden Image.