Rick Neville is a former reporter, editor and publishing executive. He started as a reporter on regional newspapers in Taranaki and Bay of Plenty before spending a decade as a political reporter for a news agency in Parliament then The Dominion newspaper. Shifting into management in 1991, he held senior roles at Independent Newspapers Limited (INL), including Group GM, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director, Publishing.

Following a stint as Managing Director, Advertiser Newspapers Ltd in Adelaide, he returned to NZ in 2003, initially as a consultant to set up the Herald on Sunday newspaper and then holding a range of senior roles at APN (now NZME) including Group Executive Editor and Chief Operating Officer, APN Regional Newspapers.

After retiring from APN in 2013, he was editorial director of the NPA until 2020 and has done media consultancy work since.