Tom Flinn, who was Vice President of Content at ICv2 from its founding in 2001, has retired; and Assistant Managing Editor Nicole Bunge has been promoted to Managing Editor, the company announced today.  “We’ve been working through this transition process for some time,” ICv2 CEO Milton Griepp said of the moves, “and while it’s a big loss to see Tom ride off into the sunset, we’re very happy that we’ve got someone as capable as Nicole to help take his place.” 

Flinn will continue to write his two weekly columns, the Weekly Box Office Report and DVD Round-Up, and fill in from time to time.  “Tom was instrumental in the founding of ICv2 back in 2001,” Griepp said, “and has been a huge part of our success.  We’re couldn’t have done it without him, and we’re glad that his writing will continue to grace our pages.” 

Bunge has become known to publishers, retailers, and others in the business over the last few years for her thorough reporting and knowledge of a wide range of geek culture categories.  “Nicole came to ICv2 with a great mix of experience and education that was a perfect fit for our needs,” Griepp said, “and our news sources and readers constantly confirm what a great asset she is.”     

Flinn has been in the geek culture business for 35 years.  A graduate of the University of Wisconsin, he studied art history and cinema in graduate school and spent three years as an instructor in filmmaking and popular culture at the University of Wisconsin--Stevens Point.  While in graduate school, Flinn was the Book Editor of The Velvet Light Trap film magazine.

Flinn was the first full-time employee of Capital City Distribution where he worked his way up from the warehouse to Vice President of Product Management, a position that involved supervising the staff that created the monthly Advance Comics mag-a-log.  He was also a frequent contributor to the highly esteemed print version of Internal Correspondence, Capital City's magazine for pop culture retailers.  At Capital Flinn pushed hard to expand the product lines available to retailers, believing that diversity of offerings gave retailers the best chance of riding out the often drastic ups and downs that characterize geek culture collector categories.

After Capital City was acquired by Diamond Comic Distributors, Flinn took the position of Director of Purchasing at Diamond where he created the International Section of Previews.

Bunge has a BA in journalism from the University of Wisconsin, and a college education and career in both business and journalism.  In addition to other work experience, Bunge had a 2-1/2 year stint in a variety of positions, including Marketing Manager, at hobby game distributor ACD Distribution.  She began at ICv2 in 2013 as Assistant Managing Editor, and was promoted to Managing Editor in 2015.