Commentary

Hearst Names 2 Senior Executives At Newspaper Group

Hearst Newspapers, publisher of 24 dailies and 52 weeklies including the Houston Chronicle, the Times Union (Albany, New York) and the San Antonio Express-News, this week announced that Patty Michalski has been named senior vice president of content strategy and innovation. She will come onboard immediately.

Michalski’s appointment comes a week after Hearst Newspapers named Ken Harding senior vice president of business effectiveness. Both announcements came from Hearst CEO Steven R. Swartz and Hearst Newspapers President Jeffrey Johnson.

Michalski has held a variety of senior editorial and audience development roles over a 20-plus-year career with Gannett. Since 2017, she had served as executive editor of USA Today and director of audience of the USA Today Network. Her work includes leading USA Today’s mobile and social media strategies.

“It’s an honor to join a company with such a rich news and newspaper tradition,” Michalski said. “I am thrilled about the opportunity to add to that tradition by working with the Hearst newspapers to attract new readers with compelling content on all of our platforms.

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Meanwhile, Harding, whose appointment was announced on April 4, comes to Hearst from FTI Consulting, where he served as senior managing director for more than 10 years, providing strategic business, due diligence and operational advisory services and leadership to newspaper and media companies.

He led print-to-digital transformation strategies and modeling for numerous newspapers and magazines, including assessing digital readiness and key strategic steps.

Prior to FTI Consulting, Harding was president and CEO of Harding Consulting Alliance, a boutique consulting firm that served as a longtime advisor to Hearst Newspapers and other Hearst businesses.

“Newspapers are critical to any democracy, and I love the opportunity to be a part of their sustainable future,” Harding said. “There is no better company to do that with than Hearst.”

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