As mentioned at our recent Town Hall meeting, the advertising departments across all our lines of business—print, online, and targeted—have been developing plans over the past several months to improve our “go-to-market” sales strategy. During that process, we uncovered a number of problems with our strategy and structure that are impeding our selling effectiveness—and we’re making improvements to address those issues. Among other things, we will be adding a new lead generation group; aligning our retail, national, regional, and telesales teams by category; and integrating the sales support groups with sales.
Our ultimate go-to-market strategy will allow us to solve our clients’ business problems by offering them fully integrated, multimedia marketing solutions which combine our print newspaper, targeted media products, online sites, mobile advertising options, and television. Our success depends upon a talented sales force that knows its clients’ needs, understands the competitive media landscape, and can sell advertisers all these solutions. Therefore, having the right leadership and organizational structure in place is crucial.
The news below is just one part in a series of changes yet to occur—all designed to move the business forward. That said, we are pleased to announce the following:
Retail/National Print Advertising
Steve Bentz has been promoted to the position of Vice President, Retail Advertising. He will be responsible for retail, national, and regional preprints/LCV (e.g. ShopLocal/Red Plum). Steve has done a superb job in developing and leading an improved and more focused go-to-market strategy. His experience and leadership will bring renewed focus and energy in maximizing our revenue potential. Reporting to Steve will be Brian Kokes, Shannon Hanes, and Gregg Dittoe.
Targeted Media
Scott Pompe has been promoted to Vice President, Targeted Media Revenue in addition to retaining his current role as Vice President/General Manager Tribune Direct–West. In this all-new role, Scott will be reporting to John O’Loughlin and work closely with Steve in synchronizing and championing our targeted media sales efforts by category, and create cross-platform, integrated packages for clients. Scott is a true seller, with executive experience in radio, newspaper, niche, and most recently direct response. New reports to Scott will be Jerry Symon (Hoy), Diane Stone (Metromix), Hector Cabral (TCN), Lisa Cosenza (TCN), and Eron Jacobson (Event Sponsorships).
Sales Operations and Planning
Kim McCleary La France, Vice President, Sales Operations and Planning will assume responsibility for managing the new lead generation group, telesales, and customer support teams. The telesales and lead generations areas will be managed by Michele Manzo-Lembo, Director, Sales Strategy and Operations, with support from Frank Glionna and Aaron Whitham. Michele will also be responsible for managing Salesforce.com (a key sales software program).
Sandra Carlos has been promoted to the position of Director, Advertising Sales Support. Sandra brings extensive operational experience and a high customer service focus to her new role and will be responsible for managing order entry and material handling for the display advertising sales teams. Sandra will report to Kim.
Under our new org structure, Steve and Kim will report directly to Jack, as will Lynne Segall, Vice President, Entertainment, Luxury and Fashion Advertising.
The search for a new Senior Vice President, Advertising is continuing, but that vacancy is not going to stop us from doing what needs to be done. We must make the necessary changes to improve our performance and build our business as quickly as possible.
On a related note, Ad Operations will continue to be managed by Maureen White, including edition planning, pagination, ad production and design, and e-commerce. She has been working very closely with Kim and Sandra on the transition of the sales support area and her leadership and strong operational knowledge will continue to be a critical part of the success of the transition. Maureen will continue to report to Bob Palermini.
The changes above and the implementation of a new sales structure and process clearly involve a significant number of details. Over the course of the next few weeks, the advertising leadership team will meet directly with employees in the affected areas to clarify plans and answer questions.
We’re making smart decisions and moving quickly; but these changes are just a small piece of what’s to come. Rest assured, we will keep you informed.
Please join us in congratulating everyone on their new roles. As always, we thank you for your continued support.
Jack Klunder
President, Los Angeles Times Newspaper
John O’Loughlin
President, Targeted Media and SVP, Marketing and Planning
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8 comments:
Michele Manzo-Lembo, Director, Sales Strategy and Operations....
Wasn't she in-charge of Oly? Hope the union doesn't get in to the Sales Strategy and Operations Departmnet like it did on her watch at Oly!
I wouldn't pin any union activity on Michele. I would put that mostly on the actions of Mark Kurtich, and Wayne Bean aside from all of the takeaways.
I don't think you know her Eddo and how she ran the Oly operation...
I knew Michele fairly well. I knew her as a smart cookie, a hard worker and very thorough. She was, as I saw her very even tempered and she measured her words well. She had, I believe a degree in electrical engineering, and that is a tough one to get. I was pretty much in the know as to what other people said about her and there wasn't anything bad that is worth reporting on, except for what "the clown" had to say. She was as I knew her, and rightfully so, one to hold peoples feet to the fire.
Remember, who she worked for, and that was no easy task. Me thinks him to be one of explosive temper, possessing selective indignation, a phony, and one who surrounded himself with low lifes. She was under a tremendous amount of pressure.
Why do you say she had a hand in bringing the union in?
I heard that she was the one to keep JW out of press supervision. When she left, he was allowed to take over again. Is that the case? I would blame ole Johnny for the union if I was Russ.
michele wasn't worth a dam !!!
Things are not always as they seem guys!
She's a master at what she does!
A fish stinks from the head. I vote for Kurtich and Bean. They are two peanuts of the same shell. I saw Kurtich as smarter and a better actor, although me thinks he was a phony.
I saw Bean as dumber and as an an atagonistic bad mouther. I also think he hated women - a misogynist. Bean also reminded me of the drunken clown in the uncle buck movie.
Also to anon, some dams are quite costly.
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