Friday, August 27, 2010

Here's text of Publisher Hunke's memo to staff

Following is a memo USA Today Publisher Dave Hunke distributed to employees yesterday.

8/26/2010

TO: USA TODAY staff

FROM: Dave Hunke

President and Publisher, USA TODAY

USA TODAY ANNOUNCES ORGANIZATIONAL RESTRUCTURING

I am pleased to announce today an executive management team that will be in charge of transforming USA TODAY into a multi-media company. We are excited by the appointment of key executives as well as the creation of new departments that will lead this evolution.

Rudd Davis will join USA TODAY as Vice President of Business Development, heading a new department which will develop and secure new business opportunities and partnerships including brand licensing, content syndication, acquisitions and joint ventures. Davis will also assume oversight of USA TODAY’s retail, hotel and education-based partnerships.

Jeff Dionise has been appointed Vice President of Product Development and Design, a new department which will focus on research and development of new USA TODAY products across the brand. Dionise will also be responsible for refinements and enhancements to current USA TODAY products.

Heather Frank has been named Vice President of Vertical Development, overseeing the department dedicated to the creation and implementation of new as well as existing vertical content areas. Frank was previously general manager of USA TODAY’s “Your Life” health and lifestyle vertical, which will launch in September.

Brad Jones has been named Senior Vice President of Circulation charged with growing print circulation and working collaboratively with Business Development and Sales and Marketing to build and deliver client-based solutions that maximize customer relationships and revenue opportunities.

Steve Kurtz has been named Vice President of Digital Development, with a new department which will focus on developing and maintaining technology and systems to support USA TODAY’s existing dotcom, mobile, iPhone and iPad platforms. Kurtz will also oversee the development as well as acquisition of digital and emerging platform space.

Ross Schaufelberger has been named Vice President and General Manager of the new USA TODAY Sports, which will be distinguished as a national brand and provide a sports platform for USA TODAY sports content as well as multiple media content assets and products from Gannett-wide properties.

Myron Maslowsky, USA TODAY’s Vice President of Finance since 2002, has been appointed to the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Group Finance and Administration. In addition to USA TODAY Finance, Maslowsky will now also oversee USA TODAY’s Information Technology and Human Resources departments.

Also announced in USA TODAY Group Finance and Administration was the naming of Susan Motiff to the newly created position of Vice President, Strategic Planning, Analysis and Support. Motiff will oversee financial analysis and modeling for USA TODAY brands, including planning for and analysis of business and development opportunities.

John Hillkirk, Editor, also announced two new appointments in USA TODAY news. Susan Weiss, has been named Executive Editor, Content and Chet Czarniak has been announced as Executive Editor, Content Distribution and Programming for USA TODAY’s print, dotcom and mobile/apps news and information platforms.

These key executive appointments will join the current USA TODAY leadership team, which includes Lee Jones, Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing; Ken Kirkhart, Vice President, Production; and John Palmisano, Vice President of Information Technology.

Please join me in congratulating all those joining the new leadership team of USA TODAY.

Over the next day, managers will meet with their staffs to give fuller details and to answer any questions you may have. Details will also be posted to the Tracking the Transformation page on the USA TODAY intranet by Friday afternoon.

14 comments:

  1. Big titles.

    For Dave's sake, I hope it's expense neutral.

    I guess it will be when 130 indians are displaced by several new chiefs.

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  2. @9:40 If you read between the lines in the various presentations that were given yesterday, I think it's going to be many chiefs (DMEs, AEs, etc) among that 130, which makes room for more digital indians. Also, the 130 was company-wide, not just in the newsroom.

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  3. What is vertical content?

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  4. Speaking as a former-USAT employee (one of the 100 previous layoffees)...it is nothing new. If peaceful coexistence, were possible why not consolidate into Gannett? Parent companies eat their children nowadays!

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  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  6. Vertical content = getting story ideas from ad sales people, advertisers, and those that will "pay" for content by getting strategic "mentions" in what looks like a news piece generated by a "real" journalist

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  7. T
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  8. Jim, please do everyone a favor, including you, and remove 5:03's comment. It's unfounded and unfair, probably libelous, and certainly beneath the dignity of a journalism blog. Thank you.

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  9. In reading over all this, I can only see it as one great big crock of shit. Here's the basic problem: USAT now has a bunch of yahoos that can't sell advertising or newspapers.

    I was there from 1981 to '94 - & if these current-day keepers of the flame think these times are tough, they shoulda been around back then. If you couldn't sell, you were history in a hurry. And Al made sure of that.

    What it looks like here is a whole host of namby-pambys that are trying to use smoke & mirrors (not to mention advertiser-supplied editorial!) to hide the basic problem: a management & sales force (?) that shouldn't even be there.

    What nonsense!

    Cheers,

    Jim Gath

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  10. I interviewed with Brad Jones in Charlotte, and he was useless in my opinion. He tried to sell me on moving there based on Alternate Delievery that he created and ran out of the Seattle Business Center. If you didn't know, that blew up in his face, and there is no longer "Alternate Delievery" in Seattle. He came off to me as arrogant, and not having a clue on how maintain relationships. He cares only about his cushy job, that he now has. USAT will not gain new business, because of all the great ideas other people have come up with, he has shot them down, or not maintained the relationship correctly to keep the business. It's people like Brad Jones not knowing how to adapt to the new business climate at USAT is the reason why 5 years from today, USAT will be extinct!!!!

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  11. Gath,
    You're a wild man...great to hear from you! Yes, times are very different these days.

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  12. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  13. I work at USA Today and find that half the comments made on this blog are incorrect. Whenever I post a crorrection, it gets deleted. Let's see what happens with this on.

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  14. Following is an edited version of a comment posted by Anonymous@3:47 p.m.:

    Brad Jones did not kill the alternate delivery business in Seattle business center. The actuall business was in San Frranciso and the guy that gets the pat on the back for that is [XXXXX].

    So you need to get you facts straight.

    [XXXXX] played a cat and mouse game with his counterpart and got his bluff called. Had that partnership remained in tact, it would have done just fine a steadily improve over time.

    But some people have bugs up their butts and thats all there is t0 say about that.

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Jim says: "Proceed with caution; this is a free-for-all comment zone. I try to correct or clarify incorrect information. But I can't catch everything. Please keep your posts focused on Gannett and media-related subjects. Note that I occasionally review comments in advance, to reject inappropriate ones. And I ignore hostile posters, and recommend you do, too."

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