Maness Named Gannett’s vice President of Innovation and Design
McLEAN, VA – Michael L. Maness today was named vice president of Innovation and Design for Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI). He had been vice president of Strategic Planning for Gannett’s Newspaper Division since February 2006.
“Michael not only understands and practices innovation, he has a history of leading innovation. In his 10 years with Gannett, he has demonstrated in multiple ways that he can generate new business ideas and successfully drive them through the organization,” said Craig Dubow, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Gannett. “These qualities are critically important to Gannett as we find and develop new, strategic and customer-driven ways to grow the company.”
The position of vice president of Innovation and Design will formulate, identify and pursue new revenue growth strategies for Gannett. After a brief period to organize his operation, Maness also will supervise Gannett’s Center for Design and Innovation (the DIG), the group that draws on employee-based innovation for new business ideas. Maness served as a member of the DIG’s advisory team evaluating employee ideas.
Maness began his career with Gannett as market development coordinator at the Springfield (MO) News-Leader in 1997. He served as Online and New Media manager at Springfield before becoming director of Online Services at The News Journal in Wilmington, DE.
In 2000, he was promoted to vice president of New Media for Wilmington, where he developed the industry’s first daily video newscast on the Web done without a television partner. He also introduced online database marketing to the award-winning Web site. He was named vice president of New Media for The Journal News in Westchester, NY, before moving to the strategic planning position in the Newspaper Division.
In 2006, Maness was named to the Newspaper Association of America’s list of “20 under 40,” which highlights rising talents in the newspaper industry. He also was a co-winner in 2007 of the Chairman’s Special Achievement Award at Gannett for his work on designing and implementing the Information Center.
Before joining Gannett, Maness was an analyst and media consultant, a campaign manager and a marketing account executive. He is a graduate of Northwestern University.
Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company that publishes 85 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 nearly 300 titles, including 18 daily newspapers, and a network of prize-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 23 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.
Media inquiries:
Tara Connell
Vice president of Corporate Communications
(703) 854-6049
tjconnel@gannett.com