DAVENPORT, Iowa--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 2, 2015--
Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (NYSE: LEE), a leading provider of news,
information and advertising in 50 markets, has announced the appointment
of two vice presidents:
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Nathan E. Bekke, group publisher and publisher of Casper
Star-Tribune Communications, will move to the corporate office
as Vice President – Consumer Sales & Marketing, a new position. He
will lead all activities related to building digital and print
audiences, including acquisition, retention, revenue generation,
customer service and marketing.
-
John M. Humenik, president and publisher of the Wisconsin
State Journal and president of Madison Newspapers Inc., will
additionally become Vice President – News. He succeeds Joyce Dehli,
who announced
last week that she is stepping down after nine years of celebrated
leadership.
Mary Junck, Lee chairman and chief executive officer, and Kevin Mowbray,
Lee vice president and chief operating officer, said:
“We believe these are excellent moves that will help us achieve our key
goals of transforming and redesigning all our products; improving local
news and information across all platforms; attracting larger audiences,
increasing engagement and driving audience revenue.
“Nathan Bekke has been an outstanding publisher and group publisher,
with especially stellar achievements throughout his career in marketing,
circulation and audience development. He will work closely with Mike
Gulledge, vice president of sales & marketing and publisher of Billings
Gazette Communications in Montana, who will be able to focus
even greater attention on advertising services. While John Humenik
continues as a key publisher, his appointment as vice president for news
takes additional advantage of his strong editorial background, having
served as editor and publisher of the Arizona
Daily Star in Tucson and editor of the Quad-City
Times in Davenport.”
In addition to leading Casper Star-Tribune Communications since
2003, Bekke has had group publisher responsibility since 2007 for
newspapers in Idaho, Montana, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South
Dakota, Washington and Wyoming. He began his newspaper career in 1988 as
an intern in the advertising department at Billings
Gazette Communications, where he became director of sales and
marketing after advancing in circulation leadership positions there and
at the Independent
Record in Helena, Montana. Under his leadership, the Star-Tribune
received Lee’s highest honor in 2005, Enterprise of the Year.
Bekke, 45, has been involved with a range of charitable, community and
statewide organizations since arriving in Wyoming. He currently is
chairman of the We Read advisory committee and serves on the YMCA board
of trustees. He also has served on the board of directors for the
Wyoming Business Council, Wyoming Meth Project, Casper Area Economic
Development Alliance, Casper Area Chamber of Commerce, Child Development
Center of Natrona County, United Way of Natrona County and Central
Wyoming Officials’ Association. A son is a freshman at the University of
Wyoming and a daughter is a junior in high school.
“This is a really exciting time in our industry,” Bekke said. “We reach
over 78% of adults every week in our largest Lee markets and our
audiences are more engaged than ever before. I look forward to working
with the extraordinarily talented teams in our enterprises to grow our
print and digital audiences.”
Humenik, 51, is president and publisher of the Wisconsin
State Journal and president of Madison Newspapers Inc., and also
has served as Lee group publisher with responsibilities for operations
in Madison and Tucson. He was publisher and editor of the Arizona
Daily Star from 2005 to 2010, when in addition to publisher he
became president of Tucson Newspapers Inc.
Under his leadership, the Daily Star has received many state,
national and international journalism honors. In 2013, it was Lee’s
Enterprise of the Year and was recognized for journalism excellence by
Lee each year from 2005 to 2013. The Daily Star was named
“Newspaper of the Year” by Suburban Newspapers of America, now Local
Media Association, in 2011, 2010 and 2008, and was among “10 That Do It
Right” by Editor & Publisher magazine in 2013. Before moving
to Tucson in 2005, Humenik was editor for seven years at the Quad-City
Times in Davenport, Iowa. He was honored as “Editor of the Year” in
2004 by Suburban Newspapers of America. The Times was named
“Newspaper of the Year” in 2002 and 2003 by SNA and was recognized in
2002 as one of “10 Newspapers That Do It Right” by Editor & Publisher.
Among many industry and community activities, he served as SNA/LMA
chairman of the board in 2010 and 2013, is immediate past chairman of
the LMA Foundation, and is a co-founder and chairman of the Tucson
Festival of Books, the fourth largest book festival in the country. He
began his career in the Chicago suburbs at age 15, working his way onto
sports staffs at the Star Herald and the Daily Southtown.
He has held newsroom management positions at The Cincinnati Enquirer
and The
Times of Northwest Indiana. He is a journalism graduate of
Eastern Illinois University.
“Lee newsrooms are reaching larger audiences with high-value content in
new and different ways throughout the day and across a variety of
platforms,” he said. “This is an exciting time to be in news, especially
as we continue to meet and surpass reader expectations for breaking news
content, multi-media and social media engagement.”
Lee Enterprises owns 46 daily newspapers and has a joint interest in
four others, along with rapidly growing digital products and nearly 300
specialty publications in 22 states. Lee's markets include St. Louis,
MO; Lincoln, NE; Madison, WI; Davenport, IA; Billings, MT; Bloomington,
IL; and Tucson, AZ. Lee Common Stock is traded on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol LEE. For more information about Lee, please
visit lee.net.
Source: Lee Enterprises, Incorporated
Lee Enterprises, Incorporated
Dan Hayes, 563-383-2100
dan.hayes@lee.net
