The hires — Lisa Barhorst, Brian Page and Scott Carlson — represent a major strategic investment in expanding Cox First Media’s marketing services, accelerating digital transformation and deepening client partnerships across the Dayton and Cincinnati regions. Their appointments follow the June retirement of director of sales Amy Houghtling and the March retirement of sales manager Lisa Scherbauer, both of whom leave a legacy of excellence that sets a high standard for the future. The new hires join long-time Cox First Media sales manager Amy Kirby to complete our sales leadership team.
“Lisa, Brian and Scott bring the exact combination of marketing expertise, digital innovation and local market understanding that our clients need to succeed,” said Rob Rohr, President and Publisher of Cox First Media. “We’re building a future-focused sales organization that meets our customers where they are and leads them to where they want to go. All three of them are active members of the Dayton community and have deep ties with the businesses and organizations that fuel this economy. I’m incredibly excited to finally have them all on the same team and putting their combined experience and talents to work for Cox First Media clients!”
Meet the New Sales Leadership Team
Lisa Barhorst – Director of Sales and Marketing
With nearly 30 years of media leadership experience, Lisa is known for transforming revenue strategies through creative partnerships and brand first thinking. She most recently served as Chief Operating Officer at the Wilderness Agency, a local full-service marketing firm, and she previously held top executive roles at several tech start-ups after executive roles at FOX45/ABC22 and WDTN-TV, where she led revenue growth through strategic partnerships and innovative marketing. Lisa has a mass communications degree from Miami University and is deeply involved in the Dayton community with past board roles on the Dayton Chamber of Commerce and the BBB. Lisa currently serves on the board of Brigid’s Path and has been recognized as a Top 25 Women to Watch by WiBN and a Power 50 honoree. Lisa’s deep Dayton roots combined with her media and advertising agency experience will help expand the services and creative abilities the Dayton Daily News and Cox First Media will be able to offer to our local clients.
Brian Page – Director of Digital Revenue
A digital revenue and product marketing expert, Brian most recently served as Director of Product Marketing at digital audience and software company Simpli.fi. Before entering the ad tech space, Brian spent 15 years at E.W. Scripps, where he led digital innovation and launched high-impact offerings like Octane OTT across local and national sales teams. Brian holds an MBA from the University of Dayton and degrees in Marketing and Computer Science from Miami University. Brian is extremely talented in growing and innovating digital strategies across search, video, social media, native content and display, and will leverage his ability to help our clients grow their brands and their revenues.
Scott Carlson – Regional Sales Manager Scott returns to Dayton with over 16 years of media sales leadership experience, including roles at Crain Communications and news and digital publisher Gannett. He previously served as Advertising Director at the Dayton Business Journal, where he built strong relationships and drove growth across their advertising and event businesses. His passion for local media and deep industry knowledge makes him a key asset to the team. Scott’s passion for helping local and regional businesses succeed has him focused on adding the right products and people to the team to ensure businesses maximize the value of the time and investment they spend with our sales team.
Cox First Media offers advertisers access to 1.5 million monthly exclusive local digital content visitors, a highly engaged print subscriber base and best-in-class targeted digital marketing services across display, social media, search, video, audio and print to reach any audience your business needs to grow.
To learn more or connect with the team, visit www.coxfirstmedia.com.