Kalmbach Publishing president leaving

Chuck Croft, the top executive at Kalmbach Publishing Co. since June 2012, is resigning.

Croft, 53, is stepping down to take a managerial position with the Milwaukee Rescue Mission.

“For me, it’s about really serving others in the central city,” Croft said Tuesday.

He will remain at Kalmbach through September, then begin work as a vice president overseeing the Rescue Mission’s financial and administrative side.

Croft has an accounting background, and began his professional career with Arthur Andersen & Co. in the 1980s, according to his LinkedIn page. He has been with Kalmbach, a specialty magazine publisher based in the Town of Brookfield, since 1998.

Croft said that after 30 years in the business world, he is “kind of following my heart to help out people in Milwaukee, and I think the Milwaukee Rescue Mission has a great ministry where they serve others.”

Best known for sheltering the homeless, the Rescue Mission also operates a choice school, a day care center and an outreach program. The organization spent just under $15 million in fiscal 2015 and took in nearly $16.2 million, the great majority of it from contributions, grants and gifts, according to self-reported information published by nonprofit tracker GuideStar.

Croft said the Kalmbach board of directors will appoint a search committee to seek a replacement for him.