At Hearst Newspapers, we are keenly aware of the daily nourishment we bring to our communities—from the journalism we provide to readers and users of our websites to the sales effectiveness we offer advertisers—flows fundamentally from a healthy revenue base. To generate advertising and circulation revenue in the face of a volatile economy, we count on the imagination, dedication and determination of loyal colleagues. All deserve our thanks. Yet, the outstanding performances of a few call for special recognition. The Marketing Excellence Award recognizes the superb individual contributions to continuing success of Hearst Newspapers.

2008 MARKETING EXCELLENCE AWARD WINNERS:

Angela Apple
Erik Barnard
Bill Barno
Carrie Carver
Mike Connell
Christian Cruz
Carol Darmetko
Mike Green
Linda Grysiewicz
Jerry Ives
Tom Kracker
Fran Laue
Jobita Lopez
Jeff Partusch
Lawrence Smithv Lauri Stone
Mickey Urias

Carol Darmetko
Advertising Marketing Consultant/Recruitment
Albany Times Union

In early 2007 Carol applied for an opening in the newly-formed outbound recruitment sales department. Formerly, Carol had been a successful inside recruitment account executive handling more than 200 established accounts. Carol applied for her new position not because it was a promotion, but because it was an opportunity and a challenge. Despite the comfort level and success Carol had in her inside recruitment position, she was willing to risk becoming part of a new sales team requiring proactive sales skills to prospect for new revenue. Carol has done a remarkable job generating revenue, selling more than $270,000 in new business in 2007. She is a risk taker who thrives on new ventures and challenges and the Times Union has gained market share and revenue as a result.

Tom Kracker
Creative Marketing Manager
Albany Times Union

During the past year, Tom volunteered to lead the newly formed marketing creative team. He centralized several creative units operating independently across the Times Union. In his new role, Tom quickly provided a focused mission to the creative services team, establishing a high-performing in-house agency to service the marketing and promotional initiatives for all Times Union business units. In addition to upgrading the quality of our promotion collateral, productivity increased 40 percent, while on-time creative execution improved dramatically, exceeding 90 percent. As an advocate for continuous improvement, Tom consistently evaluates our creative execution process to speed our time to market while raising the bar on quality and consistency.

Mike Green
City Single Copy Manager
Beaumont Enterprise

When Mike joined The Enterprise as a circulation assistant in August 2003, he spent his first six months on the job delivering single copy routes and training new carriers in the wake of Hurricane Rita. Mike was promoted to city single copy manager in 2005 and began closely tracking sales by individual location and monitoring sellouts. He converted several retailers to scan-based trading and improved collections and service to store accounts. Mike also established a strong street sales program that covers up to 20 corners on Sundays. In the first quarter of this year, Mike has reduced both daily and Sunday returns by more than 9 percent. He has increased daily sales by 2.4 percent and is closing fast on surpassing last year's Sunday sales. He has taken on the responsibility of managing Enterprise single copy dealers in Mid-County and Port Arthur and in Orange and Hardin Counties.

Linda Grysiewicz
Advertising Manager
Edwardsville Intelligencer

Linda initiated several new innovative revenue programs, including a consumer how-to section, a commemorative community college product and a Route 66 Festival section, all of which produced a combined $20,000 in new revenue. Not only that, but Linda led the advertising staff to produce more than $42,600 during two one-day telephone sales blitz events in January and August. Linda G., as she’s known by colleagues, also conceived, developed and initiated a print/online coupon product that generated $7,700 last November and has already generated nearly $14,000 in new revenue this year.

Mike Connell
Real Estate Advertising Director
Houston Chronicle

Mike's sales leadership made a significant difference in 2007. His dedication led to the development of multiple real estate focused niche products like Distinctive Properties, Chron.com/relo, Senior Living, Luxury Living and the Commercial Real Estate page. Through his efforts, Mike and his team were able to grow niche revenue by an impressive 31 percent or $700,000 over 2006. In addition, online revenue continued to show strong growth with an impressive 26 percent or $700,000 over a year earlier. Mike was also instrumental in the creation and execution of a new online real estate channel.

Lawrence Smith
Circulation Director–Home Delivery Sales, Retention & Operations Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle

Under Lawrence’s leadership, the Houston Chronicle has seen Sunday home delivery gains during each of the last three ABC Publisher’s Statements. Although this was definitely a team effort, Lawrence’s experience, diligence and integrity led the way. Home delivery growth occurred during a time when most major metros have seen home delivery losses. Lawrence has elevated the importance of retention programs to reduce stops, while at the same time grew acquisition programs such as direct mail, kiosk and door-to-door sales, e-mail marketing, and internet sales to more than exceed goals. In the past year, his team also undertook initiatives to reduce operating expenses and launched a “Selective Market Coverage Program” that offers national preprint advertisers an opportunity to reach an additional 185,000 Houston area non-subscriber households.

Jerry Ives
Circulation Director
Huron Tribune

Jerry joined the Huron Daily Tribune circulation team in February 2001 and became circulation director in 2005. It was clear from the start that his enthusiasm and ingenuity are matched only by his ability to work with other departments, contractors and the community. Working closely with his staff, we are able to continue the vital Newspapers in Education program; new promotions are generating new readership and strengthening subscriber retention with a dependable delivery force in the face of extremely high fuel costs. He never stops working to make the Huron Daily Tribune a necessary and eagerly anticipated part of community life in Michigan’s Upper Thumb region.

Christian Cruz
Circulation Manager
Laredo Morning Times

Christian joined the circulation department in 2005 as a district manager and within a year his achievements and leadership earned him promotion to circulation manager. Last year, Christian led multiple initiatives to increase paid-in-advance subscribers from 45 percent in January to 81 percent in December. How did he achieve this feat? He reduced turnover among district managers and carriers with better selection and training. He also inaugurated a program to recruit collectors to save potential stops from slow-paying subscribers. That effort paid off. Late last year, he and his colleagues in circulation and accounting prepared for a challenging two-year ABC audit that resulted in no deductions. Christian’s determination, dedication and organizational skills have substantially improved the newspaper’s circulation performance.

Erik Barnard
Director of Digital Media
Midland Daily News

Erik helped lead the company’s transition from a print-only product to one that integrates both print and on-line capabilities. Our midland.com has seen good growth during Erik’s 18-month tenure. Page views are up more than 30 percent, reaching 1 million views in March 2007; unique visitors increased 45 percent, peeking at 91,500 in September. Erik led the charge for a redesign of the photo galleries creating a more user-friendly environment that resulted in a 50 percent boost in revenue. Traffic and revenue increases are significant, and so are the many accolades Erik has received from his colleagues. He offers coworkers training and encouragement. Erik champions cutting-edge channel applications for new hyper-local websites dealing with sports, pets, photos and more.

Lauri Stone
Retail Advertising Representative
Midland Reporter-Telegram

Lauri exemplifies the successful strategy of growing our retail business through small local advertisers. Taking over a local retail territory in December 2006, Lauri responded by increasing revenue in her territory by 30 percent in 2007. That is a remarkable accomplishment in a territory with more than 300 active accounts that have an average annual spend of less than $2,000. Lauri presents to her customers the value of our audience and the reach of our products with firm conviction. Her enthusiasm and consistent sales success make her a leader and example for others in our organization.

Jobita Lopez
Classified Sales Representative
Plainview Daily Herald

Jobita came to the newspaper in March of 1999 and has shown strong professional and personal growth since that time. With her positive attitude and sales skills, she has taken employment revenue to a 51 percent increase over last year. Her special section sales have increased over last year as well. Jobita’s work is thorough and accurate with an attention to detail. Besides her sales skills, Jobita lays out the classified section daily. She has served on the employee committee; the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life team and has participated in many other Herald community events.

Fran Laue
Marketing Research Director
San Antonio Express-News

Mickey Urias
Inbound Sales/Prime Time Manager
San Antonio Express-News

In 2007, Mickey’s team took off and exceeded their 2006 revenue by $100,000, beat their online revenue by $200,000 and contributed $39,000 in Conexión revenue. They also generated over $250,000 in classified enhancements such as bolding, attention getters and screening. While working to exceed last year’s numbers, Mickey also took on the responsibility of managing the Prime Time Classified Advertising team. She spent countless hours converting classified word ads to line ads, and she also transitioned the team from hand writing ads to order entry into the Falcon system. Mickey has won the confidence of her team with her ability to coolly multi-task and focus in the most stressful situations.

Angela Apple
Director of Sales Training
San Francisco Chronicle

Angela has been instrumental in the development and deployment of sales training programs designed to improve sales productivity. She has spent numerous hours training the Chronicle’s sales staff on specific selling best practices in order to grow advertising revenue and market revenue share. Examples of these programs include: Value Selling: A newspaper-specific sales process, Relationals CRM, AdImpact Advertiser Program: A tool for uncovering leads and general information, Online Manager Bootcamp: Designed to provide a better understanding of the strength of SFGate.com and how to position online advertising within a package of products, SAP: A custom designed program for a more strategic approach to selling.

Bill Barno
Vice President of Retail Advertising
San Francisco Chronicle

Bill was able to lead the retail advertising team in successfully growing new advertising revenue streams for The Chronicle in 2007. He spearheaded the implementation of two major programs: Flight Plans and Ad Impact. Flight Plan encompasses both full run and zone options, providing advertisers increased reach and frequency with target audience. Through 2007, the full run program has generated more than $1.7 million, and the zone program has produced more than $2.4 million in revenue; more than $4 million in new retail revenue for the newspaper. Bill also worked closely with the local retail director to bring the Ad Impact program to the Chronicle. This innovative prospecting program helped add 100 new advertisers and more than $800,000 in revenue.

Jeff Partusch
Multi-Media Consultant
Associated Publishing Company

Jeff’s commitment to insuring that he fully understands his customer’s needs is a key attribute to his consistent ranking as one of the company’s highest performers. This is Jeff’s second consecutive Marketing Excellence Award. His ability to successfully translate a multi-media value story into consistent returns for his customers has earned him the top spot in our sales organization once again for 2007. Jeff exceeded all of his objectives, securing the highest percentage of renewal revenue while leading the way in new business revenue sold. In addition to his sales responsibilities, Jeff unselfishly gives of his time both inside and outside the organization. He chaired APC’s 2007 Children’s Miracle Network Golf Tournament in San Angelo, Texas, raising more than $10,000 for the local CMN chapter.

Carrie Carver
Vice President of Information Systems
White Directory Publishers

Recently promoted, Carrie has continued to use her dedication, intelligence and her overall understanding of business modeling, sales obstacles and pure energy to help facilitate products and systems to help lead WDP’s multi-media product line. She has been instrumental in problem solving with all facets of the company’s systems. Carrie is one of the main reasons digital revenue will grow 100 percent year over year and become a mainstay as White Directories continue to expand print products to Internet and digital platforms. Carrie continues to lead on new product roll-outs, vendor relationships and product innovation.