About Us
JEFF ASBACH: CEO & Co-Founder
Our fearless leader brings 30+ years of newspaper industry experience to Hometown Focus. Jeff is the former General Manager of Mesabi Daily News, where his expertise was in production and new technologies. He is the guy behind the scenes that makes everything work. A stickler for details, Jeff keeps everyone here on track.
SCOTT ASBACH: CFO & Co-Founder
Scott is the former Publisher of Mesabi Daily News, where he filled the shoes of his father, L. R. Asbach, before him. He also brings 30+ years of newspaper experience to our venture. Scott came up through advertising and marketing, and has more ideas rolling around in his noggin than just about anyone. If anyone says, "We can't do that" in a staff meeting, Scott gets very, very...determined. We'd worship the ground he walks on too, except, he doesn't walk, he runs.
JEAN COLE: Executive Editor/Content Wrangler
Uncomfortable with her fancy title, Jean would call herself an information junkie. Recruited from the realm of higher education, Jean was eager to return to the world of journalism, where she had once resided as an assistant editor, staff writer, columnist, and photographer for a number of weekly and daily publications.
She's happy now because reading too much and always asking a bunch of questions are actually part of her job description. Editing, writing and content wrangling are Jean's main responsibilities at Hometown Focus.
Jean is a graduate of Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. There, she triple-majored in English, Creative Writing and Earth Sciences because she liked to read and collect rocks, both very profitable careers.
Jean's claim to fame is being a three-time winner of KAXE's "May We Have A Word With You" Friday morning spelling contest.
JASON SCORICH: Staff Writer/Historian
With a master's degree in English from Stanford University, Jason has suffered from an acute case of overeducation. He emitted polysyllabic words and quoted obscure literary works in his sleep. Things looked bleak. But after two years of playing music, howling at the moon and general rootlessness, Jason has valiantly decided to reenter the general population.
Ironically, this sense of rootlessness inspired in Jason a passion for local history. His brain teems with visions of the area's cultural, artistic, human and architectural past. You may find him scouring the depths of an abandoned mine pit, digging through stacks of archival material, or traversing the passageways of an old building. He is the compiler/designer of our wildly popular “Range History” section. They are the only sacred, ad-free pages in our publication.
JEFF LANFRANCHI: Graphic Design
Jeff is a graduate of the graphic design program at Mesabi Range College and has worked as a designer for his alma mater and other businesses. He’s a wizardly designer, and our product reflects his talent. Referred to alternatively as "Mr. Jeff" or "Lanfran" in his previous places of employment, he has yet to earn a pet name here. We're working on it.
Aside from being a design nut (devouring the "look" of a magazine before ever reading an article), Jeff is also active in his church where he has served for the last nine years as the director of the youth drama group. He loves this extracurricular activity.
A fundamentally happy guy, he loves to laugh. His distinctive laughter, originating in the graphics department, can be heard way back in editorial. It helps us get through the day.
ZACH ASBACH: Graphic Design
Zach is a recent graduate of the graphic design program at Mesabi Range College. Green as the first sprigs of grass in spring, Zach came on board and quickly became indispensable in our graphics department. He took to newspaper design like a duck to water. Must run in the family.
Because he’s low on the family totem pole, Zach receives no mercy from the top echelon. The rest of us treat him with the respect his skills deserve. We think he likes it here.
RICHARD D. LATHROP (RDL): Sales
RDL has over 20 years of sales experience with major corporations like Sun Oil Co. and American Express, and for many years was a partner in a regional news media firm. RDL is loving taking all his previous experience in the marketplace and applying it to Hometown Focus. He likes the ambiance of our team of creatives.
He says it’s the product itself, with its positive news and great community content, that allows him to enjoy his work here so much.
TYLOR ASBACH: Sales
Tylor, along with Zach, represents the third-generation of Asbachs who tout “ink in their blood”. Tylor is an outgoing sort who loves calling on new business clients and developing relationships. “It’s all about what you develop before any sale takes place,” he says. He’s inherited his dad’s propensity for having way too many ideas in a day.
An entrepreneurial sort, Tylor started and operated his own small business for a few years on Lake Vermilion, Vermilion Odd Jobs, which provided an assortment of services to cabin owners. It was kind of a normal progression for the youngster who was responsible for lawn-mowing as a kid.
THEA KUNICKI: Sales
Thea comes to HTF with over 10 years experience in Sales and Marketing. She has always had a creative mind (she's currently working on several books), and her position at HTF makes great use of her sales, writing, website design and development skills.
A sole provider for 3 teenagers, she takes great pride in her work, firmly believing that we get what we work for. Born and raised in Duluth, she recently relocated her family to Aurora, MN. She has always loved Minnesota, and as an avid hunter and fisher, moving further north was "heaven on earth."
She enjoys people tremendously and says that she has "yet to meet someone that hasn't taught me some new meaning to life." Her mother always says that she has never met a stranger. She looks forward to getting to know the community better as part of the HTF team, knowing that the focus of HTF is on being community driven, and she feels honored to be part of a team that strives to touch the hearts of all around us on the Iron Range.
VICKY JUNTUNEN: Business Manager
Vicky is our business manager. This doesn't even come close to encompassing the breadth of her responsibilities, which are too many to list, but sometimes includes balancing the personal checkbook of our Chief Financial Officer. So, basically, we think that means that Vicky is the real CFO around here, we're not sure.
With almost as many years in the newspaper business as Scott and Jeff, Vicky is invaluable to the smooth operation of Hometown Focus. She is sometimes alternatively referred to as The Classified Queen, or Queen Victoria.
Vicky recently revealed to us during lunch in the break room that she is a former Cherry High School cheerleader. This ignited a spirited conversation among the staff that we are sorry cannot be repeated in this brief bio.
