Kurt Wimmer Named Gannett Senior vice President, General Counsel
McLEAN, VA – Kurt Wimmer, a distinguished media and intellectual property lawyer and a partner in Covington & Burling LLP, today was named senior vice president and general counsel of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI). The appointment is effective Aug. 21.
Wimmer will become a member of the Gannett Management Committee, the company’s advisory group of top executives.
Wimmer has been a partner of Covington & Burling since 1995, and was managing partner at the firm’s London office from 2000 to 2003. His work has dealt with content liability and newsgathering advice and litigation; television and Internet programming transactions; U.S. and international laws relating to the Internet; and public policy, including work with the Federal Communications Commission.
“Kurt Wimmer is simply a perfect fit with Gannett. A former journalist turned lawyer, his remarkable record representing television, print and new media companies – as well as his experiences in London and in the area of intellectual property law – dovetails with Gannett’s needs,” said Craig A. Dubow, chairman, president and CEO of Gannett. “Kurt is the right person at the right time as we implement our strategic plan to enhance our core assets while growing our digital business.”
Wimmer is listed in “Best Lawyers in America” in four areas: administrative law, communications law, First Amendment and media law. He is president of the Media Law Resource Center’s Defense Counsel Section. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Media Institute and is chair of the group’s First Amendment Advisory Council. His clients have included top media companies in the United States and the Ministries of Communications of Israel and Sweden. He has advised journalists and others in 18 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and in Central Asia.
He has worked as a copy editor, photojournalist and a reporter. He received a Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism; a J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law and a Master’s in Communications Policy from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse. He is the first lawyer to receive the Joseph A. Sprague Award from the National Press Photographers Association.
He replaces Thomas L. Chapple, who has retired.
Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company that publishes 90 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns nearly 1,000 non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes more than 300 titles, including 17 daily newspapers, and a network of prize-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 22 television stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored by its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most popular news sites on the Web.
For media inquiries:
Tara Connell
Vice President of Corporate Communications
(703) 854-6049
tjconnel@gannett.com