Romenesko Misc.
Steven Swartz, 49, moves up from Hearst Newspapers president. That position now goes to Mark Aldam, 47; he’s promoted from executive vice president, deputy group head of Hearst Newspapers. The release is after the jump.
STEVEN R. SWARTZ NAMED CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER OF HEARST CORPORATION
Mark E. Aldam Promoted to President of Hearst Newspapers
NEW YORK, March 30, 2011 – Hearst Corporation announced today that Steven R. Swartz, 49, has been named chief operating officer of Hearst Corporation, and Mark E. Aldam, 47, has been named president of Hearst Newspapers, effective immediately. The announcements were made by Frank A. Bennack, Jr., CEO of Hearst Corporation.
Swartz, a member of the Board of Directors of Hearst Corporation, was before his promotion a senior vice president of the Corporation and president of Hearst Newspapers. His oversight included Local Edge, Hearst’s digital marketing services and directories business. Aldam was previously executive vice president, deputy group head of Hearst Newspapers.
“Steve will be an excellent chief operating officer for Hearst, just as he has distinguished himself in every role he has had across our company since 1991,” Bennack said. “His experience with newspapers, magazines and digital media will enable him to play a key role in developing Hearst’s future growth strategy as we continue to focus on new revenue streams and expanding current brands across multiple platforms. Steve is a talented business executive and leader, and I welcome him to this new role.”
Swartz was president of Hearst Newspapers since 2009, and executive vice president from 2001 to 2008. Under Swartz’s leadership, Hearst played a key role in founding the newspaper industry’s consortium with Yahoo!, launching the industry’s partnership with the online real estate company Zillow and forming quadrantONE, a national online sales network co-owned by Hearst, The New York Times Company, Gannett and Tribune. Swartz also led Hearst’s acquisition of Metrix4Media, a Frisco, Texas-based search engine marketing company.
Before joining Hearst directly in 2001, Swartz was president and chief executive of SmartMoney, the magazine, website and custom publishing business launched by Hearst and News Corporation’s Dow Jones unit. Prior to becoming CEO in 1995, Swartz had been the magazine’s founding editor since 1991. Under his leadership, SmartMoney magazine won two National Magazine Awards and was Advertising Age’s Magazine of the Year. Swartz began his journalism career as a reporter with the Wall Street Journal in 1984 after graduating from Harvard. He served as an editor on the Journal’s Page One staff from 1989 to 1991.
Commenting on Aldam’s appointment, Bennack said, “Mark has proved an excellent leader at Hearst Newspapers, working with colleagues across the company on both maintaining editorial excellence and developing new products and media services for our valued business customers. I congratulate him on this well-deserved promotion.”
Aldam had been executive vice president, deputy group head of Hearst Newspapers since March 2010. In that role he also had oversight of eight of Hearst’s properties as group publisher: Albany Times Union in New York, Hearst’s four properties in Fairfield County, Connecticut (Connecticut Post in Bridgeport, The Advocate in Stamford, Greenwich Time and The News-Times in Danbury, in addition to their related weeklies), Michigan’s Huron Daily Tribune and Midland Daily News, and Edwardsville Intelligencer in Illinois. Hearst Newspapers, with more than 5,000 employees across the nation, publishes 15 dailies and 38 weeklies in cities including Houston, San Francisco, San Antonio and Albany.
Aldam joined Hearst in 2006 as publisher of the Albany Times Union, where he served for three years. He was formerly senior vice president/chief operating officer of The Hartford Courant, owned by the Tribune Company. Aldam joined The Hartford Courant in 1994 as advertising director and was named senior vice president/chief operating officer in 2005. Prior to that, he spent almost four years as senior vice president/general manager of the newspaper. Over the course of his career at The Courant, Aldam held positions overseeing sales, marketing and advertising. Before going to Hartford, he served as chief financial officer/assistant treasurer of Eagle Publishing Company in Pittsfield, Mass.
