MANHATTAN, Kan. – Daren Lewis, who currently serves as the assistant director of Collegian Media Group, has been named associate director of Collegian Media Group. He officially starts in the position January 1, 2026.
“I am ecstatic for this internal promotion for Daren at CMG,” said Spencer O’Daniel, director of Collegian Media Group and instructor for the A.Q. Miller School of Media and Communication. “Lewis has been an integral part of our advertising and business operation for more than five years now. He has impacted the culture, collaboration and community and deserves this opportunity to advance professionally within our nonprofit corporation.”
Lewis began his journey with Collegian Media Group in January 2020 as the advertising adviser tasked with building a student sales team to sell advertising for the K-State Collegian weekly newspaper and website, in addition to Manhappenin’ magazine. By the spring of 2022, he was promoted to director of advertising sales and marketing.
His creative revenue generation methods, innovative partnerships and forward-thinking approach towards advertising sales has helped create one of the best student business staffs in collegiate student media.
“The students who are advised by Lewis are some of our most talented and driven creators throughout CMG,” said O’Daniel. “Their systems, workflow, training for new sales staffers and the way they interact with local clients simulates a professional advertising staff with years of experience.”
Publications adviser Hallie Everett has worked with Lewis both as a student and member of the professional staff of Collegian Media Group. She believes he instills tenacity and toughness to his team through his coaching methods.
“Daren is constantly aiming higher and wanting the whole advertising team to be better than they were the previous semester,” said Everett. “I believe it is this gritty work ethic that makes not only him and the ad department successful, but makes CMG as a whole successful.
Lewis enjoys his time working with creators from all departments of CMG and often sets his own goals from the talented students that work within Kedzie Hall.
“I’m excited to get to work with the future storytellers, reporters, designers, photographers, advertising and marketing staff of tomorrow,” said Lewis. “It is my goal to better equip them for their future roles in the media industry. Over the last six years, I’ve seen a tremendous amount of talent come through CMG, which continues to drive my own goals.
Dr. Andrew Smith, who serves as Chairman of the board for Collegian Media Group, believes that the sustainability of CMG as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation continues to push through societal and financial barriers with Lewis’ leadership.
“In this current climate, Daren’s experience and skills in his position are vital to the future viability of the Collegian Media Group,” said Smith. “In this time of shrinking budgets and expanding costs, new sources of revenue and creative ways to continue to keep the company solvent are important and Daren is the main cog in that machine. Between fundraising and sales, CMG will not be able to sustain itself financially without Daren’s leadership in that area.”
Lewis’ has high hopes for future advertising initiatives that will not only help student media at K-State but financially impact collegiate media programs at other Kansas universities.
“I would like to continue to expand our offerings and develop the advertising department towards a more “agency” role than a “department” role,” said Lewis. “This is already evidenced in our ongoing handling of Wildcat 91.9’s underwriting and handling the advertising and marketing efforts for several K-State organizations and departments. We have a goal to take on a similar role at a number of other Kansas universities to allow our advertising staff to expand their reach and offerings across the state.”
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