In what would be a further blow to Gannett's digital operations, I'm told Vice President Kevin LeFew this afternoon disclosed plans to leave the company -- and that he's taking three senior-level colleagues with him. That's according to one source, but one who has been spot-on in the past.
LeFew was named vice president of technology and operations in November 2006. He later became one of Chris Saridakis's No. 2 executive top lieutenants, my source says, after Saridakis was named Gannett's chief digital officer in January 2008. LeFew's departure would follow that of Saridakis, who quit, effective April 30, to join a Pennsylvania e-commerce company. Corporate has not said publicly whether Saridakis will be replaced; Gannett disclosed his resignation in a regulatory filing, without any comment.
I do not know the names of the three other digital employees purportedly leaving with LeFew, nor their reported destination.
LeFew's resignation would not be surprising. Senior executives often leave when their boss exits. That is all the more true in the technology sector, one of the few growing industries where experienced employees can move about freely.
Still, LeFew's departure further destabilizes one of Gannett's most important divisions -- digital -- just as a number of key projects draw closer to going online. Those include a major overhaul of all the 81 U.S. community newspaper websites.
Can anyone confirm -- or add details? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
Monday, May 17, 2010
25 comments:
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I'm further told:
ReplyDelete* LeFew is a key player in the pending launch of the new website template for the U.S. community newspapers.
* Gannett is on the verge of announcing that it has joined the Yahoo advertising consortium.
Kevin is one of the smartest guys. This team rolled out all of our top website systems from ad serving to reporting to video to search. I heard they are forming a consulting company and have a bunch of clients already.
ReplyDeleteI believe he is taking his three top direct reports with him.
One of the biggest battles Saridakis had was around Gannett joining the Yahoo Consortium. It was said that he debated this with Martore, Dickey and Williams. The only people who would even know how to get this disaster deployed across all USCP sites and even Broadcast are Kevin Lefew and Brian Lineweaver, Zach Morgan and Will Alexander. All of them are leaving together.
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned before, Gannett Digital is falling apart at the seems.
"As mentioned before, Gannett Digital is falling apart at the seems."
ReplyDeleteJim is coming apart at the seams. The people hired by Gannett already are getting under his skin.
He'll flip out, and this blog will be closed by mid-summer, just like last year. The only guess is when Jim's performance of A Midsummer Night's (Lithium) Dream will begin.
"The people hired by Gannett already are getting under his skin."
ReplyDeleteSo how much are you getting paid, then?
8:45p. Is that you Gracia? Or is it the 3 corporate staffers on Robin Pence's team that monitor the blog and try and change the subject?
ReplyDeleteGannett is totally messed up. This is a big big loss.
This could be why it seems Project Odyssey (the corporate-wide site redesign) seems stalled.
ReplyDeleteAnd please don't poke the corporate social media trolls.
Apparently Gracia Martore is giving out some big retention bonuses to the people at Point roll and Shop local. They put together a special Incentive plan for their top 5 people to make sure that they do not leave. Someone at Point roll told me that they are paying the CEO at Point roll over $7 million to stay through this year and that the other four people are going to receive $1 million each!!! As if they did not pay Saridakis enough for that company.
ReplyDeleteAs an employee of Gannett Digital this makes me sick! Why should they receive such a big retention bonus when we are busy cutting corners to make due with our limited resources.
If Jim is right about GCI joining the Yahoo consortium, this has the makings of a gigantic mess. For example, what happens to CareerBuilder, because Yahoo runs a rival job search site HotJobs. It was only a couple of years ago that corporate bought a majority share in CareerBuilder. So what do they do now? Shitcan the investment? There are other big conflicts as well which will keep Robin busy for months explaining what happened.
ReplyDeleteJim - once again your shoddy reporting is showing. The number two executive in Digital is, and always has been, Josh Resnik. It's surprising that he hasn't written you yet to correct that error.
ReplyDeleteAs for Project Odyssey, you can be sure that if there is anything good to come of it, it will not be because of anything LeFew contributed.
There are no special retention bonuses at Pointroll, despite what your commenter says. There may be big potential payouts to some, but they are part of the acquisition earn out.
As for Anon at 10:27, HotJobs is a nearly dead job site. Never a threat to CB or Monster. Wake up.
Jim got a fact wrong? Say it isn't so!
ReplyDelete12:13 am: Thank you for that additional information. Based solely on Josh Resnik's Linked In profile, I think you are correct. (That's the benefit of crowdsourcing.) I've tweaked the post to reflect your contribution.
ReplyDeleteGannett has giant balls, still listing tucsoncitizen.com as a "newspaper."
ReplyDelete12:13a...Thank you for the clarification Gracia. Does that mean that Josh Resnik has a retention bonus too? While we have your attention, can you tell us YOUR vision for Digital is? Or is that a question better suited for Craig Dubow? Why should someone join (or stay in) Digital? Who else is getting big retention bonuses like Pointroll? There are rumors that the head of mobile, Matt Jones, is receiving a rather large retention bonus, can you confirm or deny that too? Afterall, we pay enormous retention bonuses to broadcast executives, why not Digital executives.
ReplyDeleteBravo Kevin and team. Kick them where it hurts!!!!
ReplyDeleteLeFew and team leaving would be very very very bad for all of Gannett.
ReplyDeleteEditing already posted updates is unethicake, non-user friendly (think about people that read it already), and not very weblike.
ReplyDeletePost text a new story to correct your changes, post text at the bottom of the article lead by something like "Update", or make the changes in the story but make it obvious you changed something.
Unethicake is one of my favs! Make mine chocolate!
ReplyDeleteSmart rats leave sinking ships. Who would want to stay at a company with second-rate leadership that excels only at lining its own pockets? Gannett should do its shareholders a favor and sell its assets to the highest bidders.
ReplyDeleteFear not, my Gannett brethren! For I, Jack Williams, will save you!
ReplyDeleteLefew leaving, I won't shed a tear.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI wish Kevin, Zach, Will and Brian all the future success they deserve. There will be a huge gap in Digital when they leave but that is not their fault.
ReplyDeleteI think these guys rock and it is a big loss for us in the local markets. Good luck and I hope Gannett figures out a way to work with them and their new company.
ReplyDeleteLefew is going to a place called Digital Fulcrum. Must be his own company as I dont see much info available on it.
ReplyDelete