Editor’s note: This story was edited after publishing to correct an error in the last paragraph.
By Bob Allen
Kevin Bumgarner, editor-in-chief of the Pacific Business News in Honolulu, Hawaii, since 2010, has been named executive editor of the Florida Baptist Witness, news journal of the Florida Baptist Convention.
Bumgarner, 47, elected unanimously by the Jacksonville-based newspaper’s board of directors Jan. 9, begins work Feb. 1. He succeeds Jim Smith, who resigned in July after 12 years to become executive editor and chief spokesman at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
Bumgarner, a layman who attends Mililani Baptist Church in Hawaii, worked previously for other American City Business Journals-owned newspapers in Dallas and in Greensboro, N.C. He was business editor of the Huntsville Times in Alabama in 1997-1998 and prior to that at the Wichita Business Journal 1990-1997.
Bumgarner and his wife of 25 years, Melanie, have two sons and a daughter. His brother, Bob Bumgarner, works for Florida Baptists as lead strategist for the Florida Baptist Convention’s church health group.
— Based on a Florida Baptist Witness report.