Arkansas' largest advertising, marketing and public relations firm has a new president.

Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods has named Springdale businessman Darin Gray, 49, to the post effective immediately, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Wayne Woods announced Wednesday. Gray is a founder of Gray Matters LLC of Fayetteville, which publishes the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal.

Gray will work from the company's Northwest Arkansas office in Johnson in Washington County, CJRW said. The firm also maintains an office at 303 W. Capitol Ave. in downtown Little Rock. Gray will split time between the locations while continuing to live in Springdale, the firm said.

Gray, who founded Gray Matters in 2004, announced Feb. 3 that he had placed the company in a family trust to be administered by his wife, Tami Gray. Gray Matters has published the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal since the company acquired the Northwest Arkansas division of Arkansas Business Publishing Group in June 2004. He had been president and publisher of the Northwest Arkansas Business Journal and its related publications since 1997, when the publication was founded as a division of Little Rock-based Arkansas Business Publishing Group, parent company to Arkansas Business.