DALLAS, Nov. 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Belo Corp. announced today the senior executive team that will lead A. H. Belo Corporation upon completion of Belo's plan to spin off its newspaper businesses and related assets. Robert W. Decherd, current chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Belo Corp., will assume the role of chairman, president and Chief Executive Officer of A. H. Belo Corporation, while also serving as non-executive chairman of Belo Corp.
James M. (Jim) Moroney III will become executive vice president of A. H. Belo with oversight responsibility for A. H. Belo's newspapers including The Dallas Morning News, The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA) and The Providence Journal. Moroney will continue to be the publisher and Chief Executive Officer of The Dallas Morning News and will replace Decherd on the board of The Providence Journal Company. He will also join Belo Corp.'s Board of Directors following the completion of the spin-off.
Donald F. (Skip) Cass, Jr. will also be an executive vice president of A. H. Belo, in the same role he presently has at Belo Corp. overseeing the Company's enterprise-wide Internet, business development and technology activities. Prior to his promotion to this position in February 2007, Cass served as executive vice president/Media Operations of Belo Corp.
"Jim has done an outstanding job as publisher and CEO of The Dallas Morning News since he assumed the position in 2001," said Decherd. "He has been a driving force in leading numerous transformational initiatives that have improved Belo's newspaper products and operations. Skip has already made a significant, positive impact on focusing our various business-building initiatives, and he and Jim will be very effective partners." Both Moroney and Cass will report to Decherd.
The other members of the A. H. Belo senior management team will be Alison K. Engel, senior vice president/Chief Financial Officer; Daniel J. Blizzard, senior vice president; Anna R. Nicodemus, vice president/Internal Audit; and Sheila A. Hartley, vice president/Human Resources. Moroney, Cass, Engel and Blizzard will serve as members of A. H. Belo's Management Committee along with Decherd.
Engel currently serves as vice president/Corporate Controller for Belo Corp., a position she has held since January 2006. Engel joined Belo in 2003 as director/Accounting Operations.
Blizzard has served as Belo Corp.'s vice president/Operations since January 2001. He joined Belo in May 1999 as director/Procurement for the Company's flagship newspaper, The Dallas Morning News.
Nicodemus joined Belo in 2005 and is currently Belo Corp.'s vice president/Internal Audit. Prior to joining Belo, she spent 19 years with Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in a variety of audit management roles.
Sheila Hartley currently serves as regional director/Human Resources for Belo Corp. She began her career with Belo as Corporate Human Resources Manager in June 2003.
"I am very pleased that the depth and experience of Belo's present management staff enables us to establish this outstanding leadership team without looking outside the Company," said Decherd. "As a separate newspaper
company, A. H. Belo will be even more focused and better able to address the challenges the newspaper industry is currently experiencing."
About Belo
Belo Corp. is one of the nation's largest media companies with a diversified group of market-leading television, newspaper, cable and interactive media assets. A Fortune 1000 company with 7,000 employees and approximately $1.6 billion in annual revenues, Belo operates in some of America's most dynamic markets in Texas, the Northwest, the Southwest, the Mid-Atlantic and Rhode Island. Belo owns 20 television stations, six of which are in the 15 largest U.S. broadcast markets. The Company also owns or operates six cable news stations and manages one television station through a local marketing agreement. Belo's daily newspapers are The Dallas Morning News, The Providence Journal, The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, CA) and the Denton Record-Chronicle (Denton, TX). The Company also publishes specialty publications targeting young adults, and the fast-growing Hispanic market, including Quick and Al Dia in Dallas/Fort Worth, and El D and La Prensa in Riverside. Belo operates more than 30 Web sites associated with its operating companies. Additional information is available at http://www.belo.com/ or by contacting Paul Fry, vice president/Investor Relations & Corporate Communications, at 214-977-6835.
