Technology committee's non-executive members, left to right, from top: Chairman Louis, Elias, Shalala and Shapiro.
Amid signs Gannett's digital strategy may be faltering, public documents show the board of directors didn't create its advisory Digital Technology Committee until late in the game: July 2008, three years after Craig Dubow was named CEO. It's now led by its chairman, John Louis. The other members are Dubow, Howard Elias, Donna Shalala and Neal Shapiro.
The committee assists the board in its oversight of Gannett's digital strategy and initiatives, according to its charter. The committee met four times in 2009, and three times the year before, according to shareholders proxy reports for the two years.
Only one of the four independent members -- Elias -- has a relatively strong background in technology, however. Their bios:
- Louis, 47, was co-founder of Parson Capital Corporation, a Chicago-based private equity and venture capital firm; he was its chairman from 1992 to 2007
- Elias, 52, is president and chief operating officer, EMC Information Infrastructure and Cloud Services
- Shalala, 69, has been president of the University of Miami since 2001
- Shapiro, 52, is president and CEO of WNET, the public television company that operates Thirteen/WNET and WLIW21, the nation's largest and third largest public TV stations
Someone told me that Saridakis is also on this committee.
ReplyDeleteHe may speak to the committee from time to time, but only board directors can be members of this group.
ReplyDelete