Gannett, Tegna Select Board Members

Gannett Co. today announced new chairmen and members of the boards of directors for both Gannett and Tegna. Gannett is in the process of creating two publicly traded companies: one exclusively focused on its broadcasting and digital businesses — Tegna — and the other on its publishing business and affiliated digital assets — Gannett. The separation is expected to be completed by mid-2015.

Current Gannett Board Chairman Marjorie Magner will serve as chairman of Tegna’s board following the separation. Tegna’s board will also include current Gannett directors Howard D. Elias, Lidia Fonseca, Gracia Martore, Scott K. McCune, Susan Ness and Neal Shapiro.

John Jeffry Louis, current Gannett director, will serve as chairman of Gannett’s board following the separation which will also include current Gannett directors John E. Cody and Tony Prophet and Gannett CEO-designate Robert Dickey. Louis, Cody and Prophet will resign from the Gannett Board concurrently with the completion of the spin-off.

Gannett’s board of directors also elected Bruce Nolop, former EVP-CFO of E*Trade Financial Corp., to the Gannett board, effective immediately. He will serve on Tegna’s board following the separation. In addition, Jill Greenthal, senior adviser, private equity group at Blackstone Group, was elected to the Tegna board, effective as of the day following completion of the separation.

“I am excited to welcome both Jill and Bruce to our Board of Directors,” said Gracia Martore, president-CEO, Gannett. “They both bring years of financial and corporate governance expertise to the Board. Jill has significant finance, M&A and general capital markets expertise in media while Bruce is a highly respected finance executive and is known as an outstanding board member with extensive transaction experience. They will both be great resources in helping advance our broadcast and digital businesses.”

In addition, upon completion of the separation, Lila Ibrahim, chief business officer at Coursera, is expected to serve on the Gannett board.

Martore, who will assume the role of Tegna president-CEO, also announced today two executive promotions. Following the separation, Victoria Harker, current Gannett chief financial officer, will be promoted to EVP-CFO of Tegna, and Todd Mayman, currently Gannett’s SVP-general counsel and secretary, will be promoted to EVP-chief legal and administrative officer of Tegna.

Tegna’s executive leadership team will include Bill Behan, SVP of labor relations; Victoria Harker, CFO; Kevin Lord, chief human resources officer; Dave Lougee, president of broadcasting; Todd Mayman, chief legal and administrative officer; and Jack Williams, president of digital ventures.

After the separation, as previously reported, Dickey, current president of Gannett U.S. Community Publishing, will serve as Gannett’s president-CEO. Also on the Gannett leadership team will be Ali Engel, SVP-CFO; Henry Faure Walker, chief executive, Newsquest; Larry Kramer, USA Today publisher and chief content officer; David Payne, chief product officer; Maribel Wadsworth, SVP-chief strategy officer; Barbara Wall, SVP-chief legal officer; and John Zidich, president of domestic publishing.