Five to take on Scripps VP roles
Sept. 7, 2006
CINCINNATI – The E. W. Scripps Company, acknowledging the contributions key executives are making to the firm’s financial, journalistic and creative successes, has named five new divisional and departmental vice presidents, effective immediately.
By division and department, the new vice presidents are:
Television Station Group
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Robbin Holliday, vice president, finance and administration. Holliday, a native of Cincinnati, was the television station group’s controller. Holliday’s responsibilities include strategic planning and oversight of the station group’s financial operations. She also monitors and establishes administrative standards for the stations.
Newspapers
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Robin Davis, vice president, finance and administration. She previously was the newspaper division’s controller. Davis will have oversight responsibility for the newspaper division’s finance and technology groups.
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John Temple, vice president, news. Temple previously was the newspaper division’s director of content. As vice president of news, Temple will be serving in an advisory capacity to Scripps editors and publishers on editorial issues, including content strategy, Web development, design, and the recruitment and retention of editorial staff. In addition to his corporate role, Temple continues to serve as editor, president and publisher of the Rocky Mountain News in Denver.
Human Resources
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Lisa Knutson, vice president, human resources operations. She previously was director of human resources operations. Knutson’s responsibilities include managing the development of human resources operations to support the company’s business objectives and overseeing the administration of human resources programs, processes and services.
“Scripps has an incredibly deep bench of talented executives who are contributing significantly to the ongoing growth and success of the company,” said Kenneth W. Lowe, president and chief executive officer. “Each of these individuals, in their respective professional disciplines, plays a key role in helping the company maintain its competitive edge. Their promotions not only acknowledge their accomplishments to date, but also are made with an eye to the future as we seize new opportunities in today’s rapidly changing media environment.”
Following are backgrounds of the executives who have been promoted:
Robbin Holliday
Holliday, 51, has held a variety of financial positions within Scripps during her 30-year career.
She joined Scripps in a 1977 as a staff accountant in the company’s publishing division after graduating from college. She moved to the broadcast division as a staff accountant in 1978 and two years later was named assistant controller for the TV station group.
From 1981 to 1991, Holliday served as business manager for WCPO-TV, the company’s ABC-affiliated station in Cincinnati. She was named controller for the broadcast division in 1991.
Holiday has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
Bob Benz
Benz, 44, was named general manager of interactive media for the Scripps newspaper division in 2002. In close coordination with the company’s newspaper publishers, he has been responsible for developing revenue generating enterprises as well as overseeing the development of content on the company’s newspaper Web sites. He has been credited with guiding the company’s newspaper Web enterprises to profitability.
Benz joined Scripps in 1986 and worked in various newsroom capacities before helping launch the Rocky Mountain News Web site in 1995.
In 1994, Benz was the copy editor on The Plutonium Experiment, an investigative series which earned a Pulitzer Prize for reporter Eileen Welsome and The Albuquerque Tribune.
Benz has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and English from EdinboroUniversity in Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in English literature from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Robin A. Davis
Davis, 37, joined the Scripps newspaper division in September 2005, as assistant controller, and was promoted to newspaper division controller in February of this year.
Before joining Scripps, she was vice president and chief financial officer for Pulitzer Newspapers, Inc. in St. Louis. At Pulitzer, she was responsible for finance and human resources and oversaw the operations of two newspapers. Davis also oversaw the completion and integration of more than 20 acquisitions in her role at Pulitzer. Before joining Pulitzer in 1998, Davis worked for two years as manager of financial reporting for Sigma-Aldrich Corporation. From 1991 to 1995, she was in the St. Louis office of the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche.
Davis has a bachelor’s degree from Saint Louis University and became a certified public accountant in 1993. She attended Northwestern University’s Newspaper Management Center in 2003 and was named one of Presstime Magazine’s “20 under 40” in December 2004.
John Temple
Temple, 53, has been editor of the Rocky Mountain News since 1998. During that time, the newspaper has won four Pulitzer Prizes and numerous other awards for journalistic excellence.
Temple oversees the editorial operations of the Rocky Mountain News and serves as its top executive and chief liaison with the Denver Newspaper Agency, which handles production, circulation, advertising and other business functions for the News and its competitor, The Denver Post.
Temple joined the News in 1992 as metro editor. He was named managing editor in 1995. Before joining the News, he was managing editor of The Albuquerque Tribune, another Scripps newspaper. He has also worked at The Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper. He was named director of content for the Scripps newspaper division in April of this year.
Temple has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Toronto.
Lisa Knutson
Knutson, 40, joined Scripps in 2005, coming to the company from Fifth Third Bank. At Fifth Third she served four years as vice president and director of human resources operations and chief financial officer for human resources.
Knutson was responsible for oversight of the banking company’s human resources shared services, which included Six Sigma process improvement, communications, relocation services and managing the department’s outside arrangements with business process consultants and vendors.
Before joining Fifth Third, Knutson was director of audit operations for the Great Lakes Market Circle for Arthur Andersen, LLC. A certified public accountant, Knutson is a graduate of MiamiUniversity in Oxford with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
About Scripps
The E. W. Scripps Company (NYSE: SSP) is a diverse and growing media enterprise with interests in national cable networks, newspaper publishing, broadcast television stations, electronic commerce, interactive media, and licensing and syndication.
The company’s portfolio of media properties includes: Scripps Networks, with such brands as HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living, Great American Country and HGTVPro; daily and community newspapers in 18 markets and the Washington-based Scripps Media Center, home to the Scripps Howard News Service; 10 broadcast TV stations, including six ABC-affiliated stations, three NBC affiliates and one independent; leading online search and comparison shopping services, Shopzilla and uSwitch; and United Media, a leading worldwide licensing and syndication company that is the home of PEANUTS, DILBERT and approximately 150 other features and comics.
