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THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER / CINCINNATI.COM
DIRECTOR: NEWS & OPERATIONS
Cincinnati, Ohio
ONE OF TWO SENIOR MANAGERS accountable for newsroom personnel and the accurate, timely delivery of a wide range of print and 24/7 digital products — aimed at highly targeted audiences. Maintained a steadfast commitment to First Amendment reporting and aggressive watchdog journalism.
RESPONSIBLE FOR PLANNING, content selection, presentation and space management. The result: Nearly 5 million impressions each week for advertisers while reaching one million adults an average of 4.8 times. A 2010 Gannett Market Study revealed a Sunday readership growth of 5 percent since 2008, with like numbers among females and males — and an unprecedented 11 percent gain in readers 18-34 years of age. The same report showed daily growth of 2 percent in the same timeframe, as well as a 7 percent improvement attracting male readers.
FULLY EMBRACED all aspects of social media to advance products. Primary interpreter of weekly Research and Analysis of Media (RAM) tests.
NEWSROOM PERSONNEL supervision and management, including recruiting, hiring and selecting interns. Championed a diverse workforce (recruited on campus and at job fairs — NABJ, Unity, others).
RESPONSIBLE FOR PLANNING, content selection, presentation and space management. The result: Nearly 5 million impressions each week for advertisers while reaching one million adults an average of 4.8 times. A 2010 Gannett Market Study revealed a Sunday readership growth of 5 percent since 2008, with like numbers among females and males — and an unprecedented 11 percent gain in readers 18-34 years of age. The same report showed daily growth of 2 percent in the same timeframe, as well as a 7 percent improvement attracting male readers.
FULLY EMBRACED all aspects of social media to advance products. Primary interpreter of weekly Research and Analysis of Media (RAM) tests.
NEWSROOM PERSONNEL supervision and management, including recruiting, hiring and selecting interns. Championed a diverse workforce (recruited on campus and at job fairs — NABJ, Unity, others).
- METICULOUS AND PRECISE budget oversight.
- ANNUAL ADMINISTRATION of all quarterly and yearly contests.
- PRODUCTION OVERSIGHT for 27 company-owned weekly newspapers serving Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky.
- COMPLETED A WEB-REDUCTION TRANSFORMATION — the third one in 10 years; this time to a 44-inch-web configuration — that continues to save the company millions of dollars each year in newsprint and ink costs.
- PRODUCED FIRST-GENERATION ‘super compact’ prototypes that helped envisioned the new, seven-inch shorter format The Enquirer adopted in March 2013. Top News and Production officers from Gannett Co. witnessed four focus groups give 98 percent approval to my new "magazine-influenced' design creations.
- LAUNCHED SHOW US YOUR GAME FACE initiative. The voting mechanism in the first week alone was responsible for more than 5,000 page views, and nearly 1,000 people voted for their favorites in each of three categories – male, female and kids. promotion that asked Bengals fans en route to Paul Brown Stadium for each home game this regular season to stop by the 312 Elm St. lobby to be photographed with their most fierce game face. The companion galleries – including game action and tailgating -- were responsible for more than 200,000 page views.
- MEMBER OF GANNETT CO. INTERSTATE GROUP INAUGURAL LEADERSHIP 5.0 training program for young executives. (5.0 refers to five leadership attributes believed to be critical for successful management.)
- MEMBER OF SINGLE-COPY SALES STRATEGY team that tracked point-of-purchase activities and supported efforts with outdoor promotions on electronic billboards along major commuting routes.
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DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR: MULTIMEDIA & PRESENTATION
Cincinnati, Ohio
PROVIDED DIRECT budgetary and supervisory oversight of Photography, Art and Design staffs, as I had before, but was given the mantle to incorporate audio, video, interactive elements and other multimedia presentations into our daily repertoire.
- CHALLENGED EMPLOYEES to build upon traditional skills (writing, photography, graphics and design), while unleashing the extraordinary power of interactive dimensions (video, sound, animation, story chats and more).
- AFTER HAVING INTRODUCED VIDEO REPORTING AND EDITING to our staff, I brought to fruition weekday Morning Netcast and occasional "webisodes."
- PROVIDED VIDEO CONVERGENCE TRAINING for more than 40 reporters and editors whom I personally selected.
- LED COMPANY to No. 1 ranking within Gannett Co. in the number of videos provided each month. Charts below show progress at the beginning of our video efforts, and for the two years that I guided this portion of The Enquirer's New Media efforts.
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WROTE A COMPREHENSIVE DISASTER PLAN utilized to help avert any possibility of being unable to publish a print product for the first time in more than 150 years.
OVERSAW TRANSFORMATION of The Enquirer's print size to a 48-inch web.
INTERNSHIP COORDINATOR, CAMPUS RECRUITER AND CORPORATE TRADE SHOW REPRESENTATIVE for five years. Made more than 50 outstanding hires and brought equity to the newsroom's gender and minority numbers.
OVERSAW TRANSFORMATION of The Enquirer's print size to a 48-inch web.
INTERNSHIP COORDINATOR, CAMPUS RECRUITER AND CORPORATE TRADE SHOW REPRESENTATIVE for five years. Made more than 50 outstanding hires and brought equity to the newsroom's gender and minority numbers.
REPRESENTATION AND RECRUITING
CAPTURE CINCINNATI
UTILIZED THE RESOURCES OF MY STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS to seed and generate community interest in a series of successful coffee-table books featuring local photographs. More than 1,000 residents submitted photos, more than 333,000 votes were cast for nearly 12,000 submissions. The best of the best were printed each year in a hardback format, which sold for $39.95.
ASSISTED WITH PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT of CincyMoms.com, the most successful niche digital project to date at Enquirer Media.
ASSISTED WITH PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT of CincyMoms.com, the most successful niche digital project to date at Enquirer Media.
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ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITOR: PRESENTATION
Cincinnati, Ohio 1999 – 2006
RESPONSIBLE FOR defining appearance of all products, generating visual dialogue among staff and readers, and ensuring a corresponding vitality. With direct budgetary and supervisory oversight of Photography, Art and Design staffs.
CHAIRMAN OF CAPABILITIES COMMITTEE, charged with submitting ongoing shared impressions, validations and evaluations to the publisher about all aspects — and all departments — of the media company from 2004-06.
OUR CHALLENGE: Identify the distinctive attributes The Enquirer has — or should possess — to ensure it is positions as a unique company within our industry. These attributes will help identify and position The Enquirer as an industry leader, and they will help it retain and/or attract the most qualified employee base.
OUR GOALS:
1. Expertise at all levels.
2. An opportunity-driven mindset.
3. High-caliber products.
4. A lasting emotional bond with readers and advertisers.
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS:
1.1. Implement aggressive employee-development programs
1.2. Pay significant and unwavering attention to a hiring process that considers how positions are likely to evolve and what future skills will be needed.
1.3. Encourage, embrace and reward ideas from all quarters of the company.
2.1. As employees to call attention to tired methodologies that no longer serve our need to become a major 24-hour provider of news and information. Employees with thrive within an environment that encourages them to suggest, "let's try doing this another way."
2.2. Abandon any vestiges of a top-down management philosophy (the ideas of a few). This must give way to an employee-driven environment (the ideas of many).
2.3. Cultivate a superior work environment based on respect, honesty and trust.
3.1. Rebuild and nurture an environment in which quality expectations and standards are crystal clear and attainable through precise vision and hard work.
3.2. Create and foster rigorous standards of performance and higher-but-attainable expectations that organically become part of a nature rhythm and order of doing business.
4.1. Adopt a more nimble mindset — anticipatory and reactive.
4.2. Reposition news- and advertising-intensive produces as "the preferred choices" because of their immediacy, accuracy, reliability, quality and trustworthiness.
4.3. Restate and rededicate our commitment to oft-stated goals of providing outstanding customer service, resource management, marketing and quality assurance.
4.4. Embrace a positive and respectful spirit of cooperation within our walls by exhibiting responsive leadership characteristics on behalf of all employees and all customers.
OUR RESULTS:
1. Hired a full-time training director to improve communication, professionalism, ongoing career development and foster an appreciation of all employees.
2. Established an Enquirer Leadership Institute that will function to enhance the abilities of Enquirer managers and supervisors to lead employees in a healthy, respectful work environment so outstanding results can be delivered consistently.
3. Established and implemented divisional employee training programs.
4. Implemented divisional employee-recognition programs (where none previously existed).
5. Began the process of revision job descriptions and performance evaluations to accurately reflect essential criteria.
6. Asked managers to facilitate better communication with front-line employees about company-wide issues and goals.
7. Encouraged employees to voice concerns and make suggestions that will improve individuals, departmental, divisional and company performances.
8. Created a Technology Steering Committee to deal with issues across divisions.
9. Created and Operational Operating Committee with representatives from all divisions to deal with long-term publication and production issues.
10. Placed greater emphasis on improving customer service. Professional, courteous service is not extraordinary; it is expected and will be evaluated as part of each employee's annual performance review.
11. Shared a statistical summary of Employee Survey results with all employees.
CHAIRMAN OF CAPABILITIES COMMITTEE, charged with submitting ongoing shared impressions, validations and evaluations to the publisher about all aspects — and all departments — of the media company from 2004-06.
OUR CHALLENGE: Identify the distinctive attributes The Enquirer has — or should possess — to ensure it is positions as a unique company within our industry. These attributes will help identify and position The Enquirer as an industry leader, and they will help it retain and/or attract the most qualified employee base.
OUR GOALS:
1. Expertise at all levels.
2. An opportunity-driven mindset.
3. High-caliber products.
4. A lasting emotional bond with readers and advertisers.
OUR RECOMMENDATIONS:
1.1. Implement aggressive employee-development programs
1.2. Pay significant and unwavering attention to a hiring process that considers how positions are likely to evolve and what future skills will be needed.
1.3. Encourage, embrace and reward ideas from all quarters of the company.
2.1. As employees to call attention to tired methodologies that no longer serve our need to become a major 24-hour provider of news and information. Employees with thrive within an environment that encourages them to suggest, "let's try doing this another way."
2.2. Abandon any vestiges of a top-down management philosophy (the ideas of a few). This must give way to an employee-driven environment (the ideas of many).
2.3. Cultivate a superior work environment based on respect, honesty and trust.
3.1. Rebuild and nurture an environment in which quality expectations and standards are crystal clear and attainable through precise vision and hard work.
3.2. Create and foster rigorous standards of performance and higher-but-attainable expectations that organically become part of a nature rhythm and order of doing business.
4.1. Adopt a more nimble mindset — anticipatory and reactive.
4.2. Reposition news- and advertising-intensive produces as "the preferred choices" because of their immediacy, accuracy, reliability, quality and trustworthiness.
4.3. Restate and rededicate our commitment to oft-stated goals of providing outstanding customer service, resource management, marketing and quality assurance.
4.4. Embrace a positive and respectful spirit of cooperation within our walls by exhibiting responsive leadership characteristics on behalf of all employees and all customers.
OUR RESULTS:
1. Hired a full-time training director to improve communication, professionalism, ongoing career development and foster an appreciation of all employees.
2. Established an Enquirer Leadership Institute that will function to enhance the abilities of Enquirer managers and supervisors to lead employees in a healthy, respectful work environment so outstanding results can be delivered consistently.
3. Established and implemented divisional employee training programs.
4. Implemented divisional employee-recognition programs (where none previously existed).
5. Began the process of revision job descriptions and performance evaluations to accurately reflect essential criteria.
6. Asked managers to facilitate better communication with front-line employees about company-wide issues and goals.
7. Encouraged employees to voice concerns and make suggestions that will improve individuals, departmental, divisional and company performances.
8. Created a Technology Steering Committee to deal with issues across divisions.
9. Created and Operational Operating Committee with representatives from all divisions to deal with long-term publication and production issues.
10. Placed greater emphasis on improving customer service. Professional, courteous service is not extraordinary; it is expected and will be evaluated as part of each employee's annual performance review.
11. Shared a statistical summary of Employee Survey results with all employees.
- CHAIRED CONFIDENTIAL STUDY GROUPS -- Shared Photo Resources, and Co-existing Newsrooms — about the consolidation of photo-toning and color-correction resources (and most recently affecting designers and wire editors). Out of this blossomed corporate strategies to locate individuals with common skills within a single market to serve a variety of news outlets (Regional Toning Centers and Design Studios). Naturally, this generated millions of dollars in corporate savings. (Please see "Reports" tab)
- LED OPTIMUM QUALITY COMMITTEE, charged with improving workflow and reproduction consistency.
- CREATED THE NEWSPAPER'S FIRST DESIGN GUIDE in several years. Routinely maintained and updated it.
- CONDUCTED AND INTERPRETED RESULTS of annual Enquirer Employee Surveys (submitted to more than 800 employees for three years in a row).
- GUIDED NEWSROOM-RELATED ASPECTS of a 50-inch web reduction.
- AT FOREFRONT OF TESTING the latest technological advances on behalf of photographers, reporters, editors, managers, others.
- PARTICIPATED IN INAUGURAL ENQUIRER LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE.
A NOTE FROM THE REV. BILLY GRAHAM
OVERSAW CREATION OF A 12-PAGE SPECIAL SECTION — and coordinated all visual coverage — related to the Rev. Billy Graham's 2002 "mission" to Cincinnati.
