Henry Scott to exit as CL publisher

Henry Scott, the media veteran who helped CL Atlanta regain its footing after a brutal bankruptcy and oversaw the relaunch of the alt-weekly’s print and online editions, will leave the company at the end of the year to resume his media consulting business in Miami.

He’ll be succeeded by Sharry Smith, publisher of CL’s sister publication in Tampa. CEO Marty Petty made the announcement to staff this morning in Atlanta.

“I love you guys and have loved working with you,” said Scott, who plans to re-open the Intermediator Group. An admirer of Latin American culture, the Spanish-speaking Scott said he has several interesting prospects and Miami is a good base of operations.

Scott’s long and storied career included days as a reporter and editor at newspapers in his native North Carolina and the Hartford Courant. From there he moved to the business side of journalism and joined the New York Times Co. as head of marketing planning and research and later became vice president of New Media/New Products. Prior to joining CL, first as chief marketing officer, he headed up Gansevoort Media, a strategic development firm that worked with such clients as Complex Media, BusinessWeek, the Wall Street Journal and Stockholm’s Metro International.

Smith joined CL’s Tampa paper — way back when it was called the Weekly Planet — in 1990 in ad sales and rose through the ranks to become publisher. After leaving the company to head up a consumer products firm’s marketing division, she returned to the paper in 2005, where she was named publisher two years later. She leaves Tampa in good hands, Petty said. Her new gig begins at the beginning of the year.