PORTLAND – Former media industry executive James B. Shaffer of Cape Elizabeth has been named the dean of the USM School of Business. The University of Maine System Board of Trustees confirmed the appointment May 22 in Bangor. Shaffer officially will assume his new position on July 1.

Shaffer holds a master’s in business administration from Indiana University and an undergraduate engineering degree from Purdue University. He moved to Maine in 1991 to serve as chief executive officer of Guy Gannett Communications Inc., of Portland, a diversified media holding company with television, newspaper, direct marketing and Internet operations in seven states. In 1999, he was asked to oversee the sale of the family-owned company. Shaffer left after the sale in 1999 to take on an entrepreneurial role as chief executive officer of Clickshare Service Corp.

Earlier, Shaffer was executive vice president of the Chicago Sun-Times Co., chief financial officer of the Los Angeles Times and an executive in various roles with Cowles Communications Inc., of Minneapolis, Minn.

He joined the USM School of Business in 2004 as its first Leader-in-Residence, a position focused on teaching graduate and undergraduate business students about various styles of leadership.

Shaffer and his wife, Lynn, an architect, have two adult sons, Derek and Ryan.