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Publisher Eddy Hartenstein had made his first move, adding a new senior executive and "chief revenue officer" at the Los Angeles Times — and grabbing him from the parent company of the Register in Orange County. * Reminder to always Google: McKibben has a stormy past from his time helping the Fang family find a buyer for the San Francisco Examiner, steering the sale to Phil Anschutz, then going to work for Anschutz's newspaper empire. Interesting that the new Times' publisher would bring in a guy who was part of Anschutz's free newspaper strategy to supplant papers like the Times. He also was part of Dean Singleton's NorCal team. 2005 SF Chronicle story, East Bay Express.
Hartenstein's memo:
From: Hartenstein, Eddy
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 9:33 AM
Subject: New EVP/Chief Revenue Officer
I am pleased to announce that Scott McKibben has joined the Los Angeles Times Media Group as our Executive Vice President/Chief Revenue Officer, reporting to me. Scott comes to us directly from the Community Newspapers Division of Freedom Communications (which includes more than 70 newspapers, including the Orange County Register). He’s served as publisher and president of The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colorado since 2006 and, earlier this year, he was also named vice president of Freedom’s Central Region, which includes The Gazette and also The Lima News in Lima, Ohio; The Telegraph in Alton, Illinois; the Journal-Courier in Jacksonville, Illinois; and The Tribune in Seymour, Indiana.
Scott began his own newspaper career back in the 70s and he’s been involved in all facets of our industry ever since. He began as a retail sales account executive for the Green Bay Press-Gazette and went on to hold other sales positions at newspapers in South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Since then, he’s gone on to become president and publisher at the San Francisco Examiner & Independent Newspaper Group; president and publisher at ANG Newspapers in Oakland; publisher at both The Topeka Capital-Journal in Kansas and the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in Texas; and the vice president and general manager at the Dallas Times Herald. This is just a small sampling of Scott’s impressive resume. In other words, Scott already knows all the key players in our industry and how newspapers workno learning curve here. As for his new role at The Times, all areas of sales will roll up under him. This includes display and classified advertising, niche, and integrated sales. Most importantly, Scott has worked in California and knows our marketplace. He’s lived and breathed newspapers all his life and understands the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead. He’s been working through those same issues right along with us at his own paperand knows where we need to go so we can succeed and prosper long into the future. You’ll be hearing from Scott in the days to come. In the meantime, please join me in welcoming him to his new home at the Los Angeles Times Media Group. eddy