Rance Crain was born into the publishing and advertising businesses as the oldest son of Advertising Hall of Fame inductee parents G.D. and Gertrude Crain. His career in the family business spans more than 50 years and today he holds the positions of president of Crain Communications Inc and editor-in-chief of Advertising Age, Crain's Chicago Business, Crain's New York Business, and tvweek.com.
A graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and former sports editor of The Daily Northwestern (1960), Crain is a charter member of Medill's Hall of Achievement and a proud recipient of the 1992 Northwestern University Merit Award. He is a member of the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame and was the recipient of Kodak's Print Ambassador Lifetime Achievement Award and the 2009 Missouri School of Journalism Medal of Honor. Among his business and charitable activities, Crain served 13 years as a board member of Lee Enterprises, a New York Stock Exchange Newspaper company in Davenport, Iowa.
Crain began his celebrated career in the early 1960s as a reporter for Advertising Age in its Washington bureau and later moved to the publication's New York and Chicago offices. He was named senior editor of Advertising Age in 1965 and today, he continues to lead Advertising Age as editor-in-chief and he writes a bi-weekly column for the publication. In 1967 he was also appointed as the first editor of Business Insurance and then in 1971 he was named editorial director of Crain Communications. He added the title of company president in 1973.
Along this journey, Crain founded four of the company's influential titles -- Pensions & Investments, Crain's Chicago Business, Crain's New York Business and Electronic Media which today is published as tvweek.com.
In 1990, Crain and his late wife, Merrilee, launched a new company in Orlando, Florida, The Turnstile Media Group. Turnstile is developing multi-media brands including Golfweek, TurfNet Media Network, Professional Artist, Seminole Voice, Winter Park/Maitland Observer and Turnstile Connect. This group of tightly niched media brands is intended to engage and strengthen the communities they serve.
Today, Crain Communications Inc is one of the largest privately owned business media companies in the world. Crain’s family of publications, digital products, events, marketing services, custom publishing, lead generation and research and data products directly reach C-level decision makers in a myriad of industries including: advertising; marketing; automotive, healthcare, staffing and insurance.