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Tribune CEO Dennis FitzSimons Elected
Board Chairman
CHICAGO,
December 10, 2003
-- Dennis FitzSimons, Tribune
Company president and chief executive officer, was elected
chairman by the company's board of directors at its regular
meeting yesterday. He will assume the new title of Tribune
chairman, president and CEO effective Jan. 1, 2004. FitzSimons
succeeds John Madigan, who is retiring from the company and
the board on Dec. 31, 2003 .
"It is an honor to follow John Madigan
as Tribune chairman and I look forward to the challenges
ahead," said FitzSimons. "In
today's rapidly changing media environment, we have many
strengths -- our people, our journalism and the strong
businesses we operate in the nation's top markets."
"It has been a privilege to serve
Tribune and its employees and shareholders for nearly
30 years," said Madigan. "The
leadership of the company is in very capable hands --
Dennis and his management team have done an outstanding
job launching new products, expanding existing ones and
continuing to grow revenues. The future is very bright."
FitzSimons, 53, joined Tribune in 1982 as sales director
for WGN-TV, Chicago , and in 1984 was appointed vice
president/general manager of WGNO-TV, New Orleans. In
1985, he returned to Chicago as Tribune Broadcasting
vice president/operations and in 1987 was named WGN's
vice president/general manager. He became president of
Tribune Broadcasting Company in 1994.
In January 2000, FitzSimons was named Tribune executive
vice president, responsible for the company's broadcasting,
publishing and interactive groups. He was elected to
the Tribune board of directors in May 2000, and became
Tribune president and chief operating officer in July
2001. He has served as chief executive officer since
Jan. 1, 2003.
Prior to joining Tribune, FitzSimons was director/sales
and marketing for Viacom's WVIT-TV, Hartford , Conn.
Before that, he was director/advertising sales at Viacom
International and New York sales manager for TeleRep,
Inc. (a division of Cox Broadcasting). He started his
media career at Grey Advertising in New York . He holds
a bachelor's degree in political science from Fordham
University.
Under FitzSimons' leadership, Tribune Broadcasting has
grown from six television stations in 1992 to 26 stations
today. He was instrumental in the development of The
WB Television Network, in which Tribune owns a 22.5 percent
interest. Since Tribune's acquisition of Times Mirror
in 2000, FitzSimons has taken a lead role in companywide
efforts to increase content sharing, cross-sell advertising
and cross-promote the company's newspapers, TV stations
and interactive businesses.
FitzSimons serves as chairman of the Media Security
and Reliability Council for the FCC, and is a director
for the Newspaper Association of America, as well as
the McCormick Tribune Foundation, United Way of Metropolitan
Chicago and the Big Shoulders Fund. He is a member of
The Commercial Club of Chicago and is a vice president
of Chicago 's Off The Street Club. He is also a member
of the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University,
the Board of Visitors for the Medill School of Journalism
and the board of Chicago 's Museum of Science and Industry.
Other board activity
Also at yesterday's meeting, the board elected David
Granat to the newly created post of vice president/investments,
and elected Chandler Bigelow to succeed him as vice president/treasurer.
"Given the significance of our investment
portfolio, especially our pension and 401(k) assets,
we are fortunate to have Dave's expertise for this important
new position," said
Don Grenesko, Tribune senior vice president/finance and
administration.
Granat joined Tribune as treasurer in 1985 from The
Quaker Oats Company. He was elected vice president in
1991.
Bigelow has served as assistant treasurer since February
2001. He joined Tribune from Spyglass Inc. in 1998 as
part of the company's financial development program.
He was promoted to corporate finance manager in 1999
and director/corporate finance in 2000.
"Chandler has clearly demonstrated
the capabilities and integrity that are required for
this position," said
Granat. "Shareholders are well served by his promotion."
:: :: ::
TRIBUNE (NYSE: TRB) is one of the country's
premier media companies, operating businesses in broadcasting
and publishing. It reaches more than 80 percent of U.S. households
and is the only media organization with television stations,
newspapers and Web sites in the nation's top three markets.
In publishing, Tribune operates 13 leading daily newspapers
including the Los Angeles Times , Chicago Tribune,
Newsday and Spanish-language Hoy , plus a wide
range of targeted publications. The company's broadcasting
group operates 26 television stations; Superstation WGN on
national cable; WGN-AM in Chicago; and the Chicago Cubs baseball
team. Popular news and information Web sites complement Tribune's
print and broadcast properties and extend the company's nationwide
audience. |
