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Stan Mitchell, the editor and publisher of The Oak Ridge Observer, launched the paper in 2004 with big dreams and huge goals. The paper struggled mightily in its early years against entrenched competition and a lack of start-up capital.
Thankfully, just 27 at the time, he had enough enthusiasm and ignorance to overlook the many obstacles that stood in his way.
Prior to starting The Observer, he worked at three newspapers -- two daily and one weekly.
Stan served a four-year stint in the Marine Corps before attending the University of Tennessee, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in journalism from the College of Communications.
During his Marine Corps service ('95-'99), he and his platoon members received Combat Action Ribbons for their service in Operation Silver Wake, the evacuation of U.S. citizens from Tirana, Albania. Stan spent all four years in the Marine Corps as an infantryman in Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, Eighth Marines.
He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce. He helped kick off the Young Professionals Group of Oak Ridge, serving as its first president and a board member for three years.
His most recent award is the Postma Young Professional Medal, awarded Dec. 1, 2009, by the East Tennessee Economic Council. Winners of past Postma Young Professional Medals include ORNL Lab Director Dr. Thom Mason and former Oak Ridge Mayor David Bradshaw. During his time in the Marines, Stan won a Certificate of Commendation from the Commanding General of the 2nd Marine Division for his selection as Marine of the Quarter for the entire 2nd Marine Division -- Fourth Quarter, 1997.
His hobbies include martial arts, strength training, and fiction writing. He enjoyes writing action-packed thrillers, which readers have compared to the works of Vince Flynn, Lee Child, and Stephen Hunter. He’s the author of “Sold Out,” “Soldier On,” and “Little Man, and the Dixon County War.”
He's married to Danah Mitchell. You can find his fiction author page here.
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