CINCINNATI, Dec. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The E. W. Scripps Company
(NYSE: SSP), which intends to separate into two publicly traded corporations
by mid-year 2008, has begun appointing board-level leadership and members of
the management teams that will lead the company's various media businesses
upon completion of the transaction.
At The E. W. Scripps Company, William R. Burleigh, 72, will continue to
serve as chairman of the board of directors. Burleigh, who served as president
and chief executive officer of the company for five years, has been chairman
of the board since 1999.
At Scripps Networks Interactive, the new company that will be created in
the separation, Kenneth W. Lowe, 57, will be chairman of the board and
Nicholas B. Paumgarten, 62, will be the company's lead independent director.
Lowe, who also will serve as president and chief executive officer of
Scripps Networks Interactive, has been president and chief executive officer
of The E. W. Scripps Company since 2000. Paumgarten, chairman of Corsair
Capital LLC, has served on the Scripps board since the company's initial
public offering in 1988.
In addition to the top board positions, Scripps also has appointed members
of the management teams in the finance, human resources, legal and information
technology areas of both companies.
The following will be members of the management team at The E. W. Scripps
Company:
-- Mary Denise Kuprionis, 51, will be vice president/corporate secretary
and will take on additional responsibilities as the company's chief
ethics and compliance officer. Kuprionis, an attorney, was elected a
vice president of the company in 2001. She joined Scripps in 1978 and
in 1987, as corporate secretary, was the first woman elected as an
officer of the company.
-- Lisa A. Knutson, 42, currently vice president of human resources
operations, will become senior vice president of human resources.
Knutson joined Scripps in 2005, coming from Fifth Third Bank, where she
was vice president of human resources operations and chief financial
officer for the bank's human resources department.
-- Douglas F. Lyons, 50, presently vice president of finance and
administration for the Scripps Interactive Media division, will become
the company's vice president and controller. Lyons has been at Scripps
for 22 years and previously was the company's director of financial
reporting.
-- Robert A. Carson, 51, now serving as executive director of enterprise
information systems, will become vice president and chief information
officer. Carson has been at Scripps for 18 years, during which time he
managed a wide range of projects, including the selection, design and
implementation of business systems for the company.
-- Michael T. Hales, 43, will become vice president of audit and
compliance. He currently serves as director of controls and
compliance. Hales has been with Scripps for 17 years and previously was
finance director for the company's newspaper in Evansville, Ind.
All five will join the management team led by Richard A. Boehne, 51, who,
as previously announced, will become president and chief executive officer of
The E. W. Scripps Company when the transaction is completed.
The following will be members of the management team at Scripps Networks
Interactive:
-- Joseph G. NeCastro, 50, will be the company's executive vice president
and chief financial officer, and have additional operating
responsibility for Shopzilla and uSwitch, the company's online
comparison shopping services. NeCastro, who currently is executive vice
president and chief financial officer for Scripps, joined the company
in 2002. He previously was chief financial officer for Penton Media
Inc. in Cleveland.
-- Anatolio B. Cruz III, 49, will be executive vice president, chief legal
officer and corporate secretary. Cruz, currently executive vice
president and general counsel for Scripps, joined the company in 2004,
coming from Viacom's BET Holdings Inc., where he was vice president,
deputy general counsel and assistant secretary.
-- Mark S. Hale, 49, will be the company's senior vice president,
technology operations and chief technology officer. Hale joined the
company in 1994 and was a member of the original management team that
oversaw the launch of HGTV.
-- Jennifer L. Weber, 41, currently senior vice president of human
resources for Scripps, will serve in the same capacity for the new
company. Weber joined Scripps in 2005 after 12 years with Towers Perrin
Human Resources Services, where she was a managing partner.
-- Lori A. Hickok, 44, will become senior vice president of finance,
directing the company's accounting, reporting, tax and treasury
functions. Hickok currently is serving as vice president and
controller. She first joined Scripps in 1988 and has been controller
since 2002.
-- Chad M. Boydston, 35, will become vice president and controller of the
new company. Boydston joined Scripps in 2006 coming from Fifth Third
Bancorp, where he was a vice president in the bank's internal audit
division. He presently is director of financial reporting for Scripps.
-- Terry L. Smithers, 48, will become vice president of audit and
compliance. Smithers currently is director of auditing and consulting
services for Scripps. Smithers joined the company in 1985 as internal
audit manager.
"We've spent a considerable amount of time building a strong management
team at Scripps, which provides us with a particularly strong bench of
leadership talent to draw from for both companies," Lowe said. "The
appointment of these outstanding professionals to lead our corporate functions
provides the framework we need to further assess the staffing needs and build
qualified management teams for The E. W. Scripps Company and Scripps Networks
Interactive."
The company's divisional leaders - Mark Contreras, senior vice president
of newspapers, Bill Peterson, senior vice president of the television station
group, John Lansing, president of Scripps Networks, and Doug Stern, president
of United Media - will continue in their current roles.
Scripps announced in October that its board of directors had unanimously
authorized management to pursue a plan to separate Scripps into two publicly
traded companies, one focused on creating national lifestyle media brands and
the other on building market-leading local media franchises.
The two companies that would exist after the separation would be:
-- The E. W. Scripps Company, which would include daily and community
newspapers in 17 U.S. markets; 10 broadcast television stations
clustered among the nation's largest 50 markets, including six ABC
affiliates, three NBC affiliates and one independent station; the
character licensing and feature syndication businesses operated by
United Media; and Scripps Media Center in Washington D.C., which
includes the Scripps Howard News Service. These businesses have
combined annual revenue of about $1.1 billion and employ about 7,100
people.
-- Scripps Networks Interactive, which would consist of the national
lifestyle media brands and associated enterprises that operate
collectively as Scripps Networks, including television's HGTV, Food
Network, DIY Network, the Fine Living Television Network and Great
American Country and their category-leading Internet businesses. The
new company also would include online comparison shopping services
Shopzilla and uSwitch and their associated Web sites. These businesses
have combined annual revenue of approximately $1.4 billion and 2,100
employees.
The proposed separation would take the form of a tax-free dividend of
stock in Scripps Networks Interactive distributed to all Scripps shareholders
on a pro-rata basis. The separation is expected to be completed in the second
quarter of 2008.
In addition to approval of the final plan by the board of directors and
approval by the holders of the company's Common Voting Shares, completion of
the separation will be contingent upon a favorable ruling from the Internal
Revenue Service on the tax-free nature of the transaction and the filing and
effectiveness of a Form 10 registration statement with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.
About Scripps
The E. W. Scripps Company (www.scripps.com) is a diverse and growing media
enterprise with interests in national cable networks, newspaper publishing,
broadcast television stations, interactive media, and licensing and
syndication.
The company's portfolio of media properties includes: Scripps Networks,
with such brands as HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living and Great
American Country; daily and community newspapers in 17 markets and the
Washington-based Scripps Media Center, home to the Scripps Howard News
Service; 10 broadcast TV stations, including six ABC-affiliated stations,
three NBC affiliates and one independent; Scripps Interactive Media, including
leading online search and comparison shopping services, Shopzilla and uSwitch;
and United Media, a leading worldwide licensing and syndication company that
is the home of PEANUTS, DILBERT and approximately 150 other features and
comics.
SOURCE The E. W. Scripps Company
CONTACT: Tim Stautberg of The E. W. Scripps Company, +1-513-977-3826,
tim.stautberg@scripps.com
Web site: http://www.scripps.com
