Arizona’s office serves fastest growing county in the nation

Editors and Kurt:

The editors of the three East Valley newspapers are joined by Kurt Ploudre, the Arizona National Accounts Manager. From left, Terrance Thornton, Kurt, Angela DeWelles and Todd Hoover.

Arizona’s East Valley office is home to the company’s oldest and newest Arizona publications, and poised to serve a region expected by many to be one of the fastest growing areas in the nation.

The office is home to the Apache Junction Independent, East Mesa Independent and Queen Creek Independent, and also serve as the home base for the Arizona’s national accounted department headed up by Kurt Ploudre.

In all, 18 employees work out of the office located in Apache Junction, Arizona.

The Apache Junction Independent is officially the company’s oldest Arizona publication. The newspaper opened in 1959 and serves a town located in the southeastern portion of the Phoenix Metropolitan area.

Apache Junction continues to maintain its Old West charm and is still considered a small town compared to neighboring cities. A popular winter haven for retirees, Apache Junction is located at the foot of the popular Superstition Mountains, and attracts thousands of tourists each year in search of the legendary Lost Dutchman’s gold mine.

The Apache Junction Independent is a weekly community newspaper distributed to 21,000 homes every Tuesday. Over the past 20 years, the newspaper has captured numerous awards for journalism and advertising excellence from the Arizona Newspapers Association, and its walls are lined with dozens of plaques of gratitude presented to the newspaper from local civic and nonprofit organizations.

The East Mesa Independent serves a portion of Apache Junction’s neighbor to the west, Mesa, Arizona. Similar to Apache Junction’s audience, the East Mesa Independent provides news to a mixture of senior citizen and family communities.

Mesa is the second largest city in the Phoenix area, and the East Mesa Independent serve a small, but relatively new and growing area on the city’s eastern side. The weekly community newspaper is distributed to 28,000 homes every week, making it Independent’s largest circulated newspaper in Arizona.

The Queen Creek Independent is the company’s newest publication in Arizona. Opened in 2004, the publication serves the fastest growing community in Pinal County. The publication’s pressrun has grown over 50% in just three years and it is in a region expected by local economists to experience dramatic growth over the next decade or two.

Queen Creek and Apache Junction are both in Pinal County. Experts predict the county – and specifically the area that includes Queen Creek and Apache Junction to attract more than 10 million new residents over the next 10-15 years. A strong history in the area, solid newspapers that enjoy high readership and a competent and experienced staff put Independent Newspapers in a great position to capture its share of this future growth.

The newspaper’s editorial team is led by Richard Dyer, the news services editor, and a veteran with over 20 years of experience with Independent Newspapers. He is joined on the news service team by Jill Adair and John Phelps.

The editors of our three publications are Angela DeWelles, Queen Creek; Terrance Thornton, Apache Junction; Todd Hoover, East Mesa.

The sales team consists of Lisa Grassie, Twyla Knudson, LaVonne Wright, Lavonda Romain, and Renee Wagener. The graphics team consists of Kristin Doetsch and Mark Steiner.

Tina Pendexter is the office coordinator and serves as the main liaison between the other Arizona offices and the corporate office. Nancy Tudor, another long-time Independent veteran, is the circulation manager and the one responsible for making sure 65,000 newspapers are properly delivered each week.

The national accounts department, headed by Kurt Ploudre, also works out of the Apache Junction office. Kurt is assisted by Dan Sepulveda, who also serves on the company’s tech team.

News Service team:

The East Valley News Service Team: Richard Dyer, news services editor, standing; Jill Adair and John Phelps.

Mark and Kristin:

The graphics team includes Mark Steinert and Kristin Doetsch.

Lavonda, Lisa, Renee:

Members of the advertising team: Lavonda Romain, Lisa Grassie and Renee Wagener.

Tina, Dan and Twyla:

From left, Tina Pendexter, office coordinator; Dan Sepulveda, national accounts assistant and tech team member; Twyla Knudson, advertising staff.

Lavonne and Lisa:

Members of the advertising team: Lavonne Wright
and Lisa Grassie.

Lunch on Charlene after 100 posts!

Jeremy comes out ahead

Pictured above, Jeremy Carr won lunch on Charlene Bisson for posting the most news to the newszap.com forums.

By Jeremy Carr
News Services

Managing Editor Charlene Bisson initiated an office competition to see who could post the most news and pictures to our Newszap.com sites. She said the team member who receives the most smiley faces – one per post – will receive lunch on her.

I managed to post well over 100 different items.

In order to do this, I set aside a certain amount of time every week to just go through everything that ran the previous week and post it. I also made it a point to post items on the Arrowhead page as well.

Even though I, of course, wanted to “win” the contest, I also did my best to help others post items.

"Free Speech/ Free Ads" for local communities

Newszap.com has a brand new look. The redesign is bolder and brighter!

The 80+ community homepages have always enjoyed heavy traffic from their local communities. Now visitors to the site find it easier to navigate and access local forums, photos, events, classifieds, community links, and more.

Each page welcomes visitors with a burst of stars that promise: “Free Speech” and “Free Ads”.

The vibrant new format takes social networking for the local citizenry to a whole new level. These town portals are a place where everyone can participate and have a voice, just as the First Amendment intended.

A “Free Speech with Civility” public forum is featured at the top of every community homepage. Users create their own topics, and local issues are often debated vigorously.

Visitors are invited to “Post Your News” or “Post Your Photos”. Photos typically uploaded are of high school sports contests, school activities, service club meetings, community festivals, and lots more.

Citizens are urged to “Post Your Public Event”, too. Each community homepage offers residents two calendar links. One is for finding and posting local community happenings, while the other encourages the listing of state/regional events.

Free classifieds permit the advertising of personal items at absolutely no charge. Free business, civic, school, sports, places of worship, and blogs & columnists links are part of a local links directory.

The community homepages have new display advertising sizes. In addition to newszap.com's traditional banner and tile ads, the pages provide half-banners and dominant rectangular ads, as well. These ads are linked to the local advertser's website and sold based on audited visitor “impressions” at the individual pages.

There’s also links for world and national news, stocks & travel guides, movies, TV listings, & entertainment information, white and yellow pages, maps and greeting cards, horoscopes & lottery results, even a page offering money saving coupons redeemable at local grocery stores.

Newszap.com's “new look” is exciting! Be sure to take a look at newszap.com.

Christmas parade draws crowds

Okeechobee News/Chauna Aguilar

Newshound was greeted with cheers in the Okeechobee Christmas parade. The event appeared to be one of the largest -- and longest – holiday parades ever held in Okeechobee!

By Katrina Elsken
Executive Editor

Okeechobee’s Lighted Christmas parade, held Saturday in downtown Okeechobee was quite a success. It appeared to be one of the largest -- and longest – holiday parades we’ve ever had in Okeechobee.

The Okeechobee News entry included our mascot, Newshound, and some very special guests -- three Alpacas, adorned with “reindeer” antlers.

The Alpacas came from an a Alpaca farm on Bluff Hammock Road in Lorida, owned by Chuck Domm and Lorraine Loperfido. The Alpacas first visited the Okeechobee News office back in September, when they were making a visit to publicize National Alpaca Day. As members of the Florida Alpaca Breeders Association (FABA), Chuck and Lorraine take their Alpacas on the road to educate the public about these beautiful, gentle animals.

The three Alpacas featured in the Christmas parade were young – just a year old – but they were very well behaved despite all the excitement. They traveled to the parade in comfort. Two rode in the back of a van and the third came in the backseat of car. Watching the Alpacas get out of those vehicles came as quite a surprise. Watching them load back up after the parade was even more interesting. They just jump in, lie down and ride as peacefully as a well-trained dog. If they need a “rest stop,” they let the driver know by “humming” loudly. The sound Alpacas make is like a high-pitched hum.

I always tell reporters to dress for the event so they can “blend in.” For example, if a reporter covers a rodeo, jeans and boots are appropriate. Our Newshound mascot also dresses for the occasion. At the Labor Day Rodeo Parade, Newshound wore boots and a cowboy hat and rode a horse (a very gentle, calm horse with lots of 4-H experience). At the motorcycle rally, Newshound wore a leather vest. So for the Christmas parade, Newshound had a red outfit trimmed in white, perfect for one of Santa’s helpers. Her “Alpaca deer” were the perfect addition to the ensemble.

While children along the parade route were happy to see Newshound -- who often stopped to shake hands or accept a hug -- the Alpacas got the most attention. Many people didn’t know what the cute creatures were. Were they llamas? Were they camels? “They’re Alpacas!” we found ourselves calling in unison, at regular intervals. The parade provided many children (and a few adults) their first chance to touch an Alpaca, and marvel at just how soft their fleece is.

When our unit reached Flagler Park, we were greeted with applause. The little “Alpaca deer” were quite the hit.

The Christmas parade appeared to be a great success. Thousands of people lined the parade route. The parade lasted nearly two hours and featured more than 80 entries from area organizations, businesses, schools and churches.

The Okeechobee News crew had so much fun in the parade, we’re already thinking about our entry in for the Speckled Perch Parade.

Okeechobee News/Katrina Elsken

The Okeechobee News mascot, Newshound, dressed as one of Santa’s helpers for the Okeechobee Christmas Parade. She was accompanied by three “Alpaca-deer” as reindeer!

About Alpacas

Alpacas are among the finest fiber-bearing animals in the world. Their fleece is also similar to that of a sheep, but is lighter in weight, silkier to the touch, warmer and not prickly. It also has a great deal less lanolin in it which makes it nearly hypoallergenic.

Alpaca fleece has become big business. The fleece is used in outdoor clothing because of it lighter weight and warmth. The softness of the fleece makes it sought after for sweaters, jackets and even high-quality suits. Good quality Alpaca fiber can sell for $2 to $4 per ounce. Finer fleeces, the ones with smaller diameter shafts, are preferred and therefore are even more expensive. In 1998, the U.S. government stopped all importation of alpacas making breeding stock from world-renowned bloodlines worth a great deal of money. The government implemented an Alpaca breeding program and many people have taken advantage of the new tax incentives to go into the Alpaca business.

For more information about Alpacas, go online to http://flalpacas.com.

Sussex news editor lands ‘Friend’ award

News Editor Glenn Rolfe shows off his
2007 Friend of Seaford Education Award.

SEAFORD -- The Leader & State Register News Editor Glenn Rolfe garnered the spotlight in November as the recipient of the 2007 Friend of Seaford Education Award.

Presented annually since 1984 to commemorate American Education week, the award recognizes individuals or groups that have made positive contributions to the students and/or staff of the Seaford School District.

Mr. Rolfe, who joined The Leader & State Register in June of 2002, accepted the award during a special presentation at the Nov. 5 board of education meeting.

“It is always a pleasure to see Glenn at our schooleventsand to witness his positive interaction with our students and staff,” said Seaford school board president John P. Hanenfeld. “His time spent in our schools and with the accuracy of his writing, Glenn is truly a friend of the Seaford School District. I wish to thank him for all he has done and offer my congratulations.”

Seaford Superintendent Dr. Russell H. Knorr recognized The Leader & State Register news editor for his objectivity and mission for accuracy in both good news articles as well as coverage of controversial issues involving the school district.

“Glenn does everything that a good journalist should do. He researches a story and gets the facts right. He asks follow-up questions to make certain of those facts,” said Dr. Knorr. “In addition, he is an objective and fair-minded reporter. He is also a good writer, both as a reporter and as a columnist.

“Finally, Glenn has been extremely helpful to us in getting out the word about the many good things going on in our schools and the accomplishments of our students,” Dr. Knorr said.
Mr. Rolfe accepted the award on behalf of the hard-working staff at The Leader & State Register, saying he was truly “humbled” to even be considered for the award.

“My satisfaction is in knowing that my news writing, photography and coverage are impacting people and stimulating readers,” Mr. Rolfe said.

Previous Friend of Seaford Education Award honorees include longtime Seaford educator/28-year state Rep. Tina Fallon (the initial recipient in 1984) and noted neurosurgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson, in 1996.

The Nanticoke (Seaford) Rotary Club received the award in 2006.

Born and raised in northeastern Pennsylvania, Mr. Rolfe graduated from Athens Area High School in 1973.

About a year after graduating from Broome Community College in Binghamton, N.Y. in 1977, he embarked on a career in journalism, starting at The Evening Times in Sayre, Pa. as a news reporter before becoming sports editor, a position he held at his hometown daily for about 23 years prior to moving to Delaware.

Mr. Rolfe and his wife Brenda reside in Delmar. They have two children, who live in Laurel, De., and Wilmington, N.C., and a little grand-daughter who occupies much of their free time.

North Valley team keeps ‘format’ intact

by Emily Soccorsy

During the transition from the pagination center to decentralized pagination in Arizona, the North Valley team, both editorial and advertising, took on new challenges with grace and dedication and has quickly come to enjoy the process of pagination.

But more than that, the team, which during the early weeks had to adjust to new staffing after a resignation, came together to continue to produce quality papers that kept our news game plans intact and provided our signature simple format.

"We use a standard format to make it easy for readers to find what they want. Content is carefully organized for usefulness and time efficiency. We make sensible and creative use of graphics, illustrations, indexes, charts, and color when available."
- Emily Soccorsy

The team includes Michelle Tennis, Joey Airdo and Daniel Quigley in editorial and Jamie Bobbitt and Temple Stark in production/graphics. (Zach Colick is a recent addition to our team and is definitely following suit.)

Their success shows in the seamlessness of the transition as far as the readers in our communities and our advertisers are concerned. In fact, readers have complimented our papers in subsequent weeks after the decentralization.

The team continues to work ahead of deadline to ensure clean and clear front page stories as well as making efficient use of the hours after deadline to get the papers to press on time and with few errors.

This is surely an example of a team meeting the mission of “format,” and is particularly notable because they did so in a new situation with new tools.

Interns help make newspapers a success

By Melissa Wood
News Services Editor

The West Valley office was graced with the presence of two fantastic high school interns during the first semester of the 2007-08 school year. Sabrina Desjardins and Erica Rodriguez, both seniors at Sunrise Mountain High School in Peoria, did internships at the Surprise and Peoria Independent newspapers, respectively.

Sabrina, a yearbook staffer and journalism student, lives in Surprise although she attends high school in Peoria, so she took naturally to the Surprise beat. Her first assignment was to take photos of a school mascot which had been advertised to be a python, only to find out it was a stuffed python rather than a real one! She gamely took the photo anyway, coming away with a terrific photo of a second grade class with a (stuffed) python wrapped around them.

It was all uphill from there as Sabrina covered middle school sports with a vengeance, contributing whole pages of Meet the Team, Meet the Coach, Ask the Athlete and photos nearly every week, and wrote school stories at every school in the Dysart District, where our newspaper is distributed. By the end of the internship Sabrina was coming up with her own story ideas, and was shooting community news photos for p. 2 almost every Saturday. She never said “no” to an assignment and always came back with her assignment completed on time. Her sports coverage will especially be missed.

Erica also covered school news in Peoria, and contributed either a story or school photos every week.

The relationships she made with teachers, along with her professional and polite demeanor, were praised by every school she went to, and the Independent will reap the benefits for that good will for many months to come.

Congratulations Dover Advertising team!

Congratulations to the Dover Advertising team for their great success with a sponsor page supporting the Delaware Blue Hens football team as they headed to Tennessee to play in the Championship game. Although the Hens lost, the page in the Delaware State News on both Thursday and Friday looked great! A special “pat on the back” to Ad Manager Diane Cahall and Graphic Artist Jeff Carney for championing this effort. Way to go, team!

Frostproof News Sold to Sun Coast Media

By Tom Byrd
Florida Operations VP

INI announced this week that the Frostproof News has been sold to Sun Coast Media Group, a community newspaper publishing group based in Venice Fl.

The sale was effective November 1, although we are creating, editing, and printing the November 1st and 8th editions for them as part of the transition of ownership.

This was a difficult decision as we have invested a lot of time and energy through the years in Frostproof. It is a very nice community with a long history of a enjoying a community paper. Unfortunately, it has long been unprofitable for us. In many respects, Frostproof has been somewhat of an experimental division within INI, where we had an opportunity to see how far our economies of scale and turnkey processes could take us in serving a small community in a very small market with a local community representative working out of their home. The experiment worked on the editorial side, but was not as successful with advertising. Frostproof is located in Polk County well away from our other Florida operations, and it’s very small size (circ 1000) and distance made it impractical for much combination advertising to be sold. Our closest newspaper is our daily Okeechobee News and that was not a natural fit for shoppers, merchants, or readers in Frostproof and Okeechobee

The tolerable losses in Frostproof we had experienced in the past become intolerable during this year’s advertising downturn. In the meantime, neighboring papers in some other Polk County communities were acquired under the common ownership of Sun Coast Media Group, Inc. Sun Coast emerged as the logical owners for Frostproof, as they were clearly best positioned to create a sustainable economic model*. Discussions began this summer at their request, and culminated with a purchase agreement that closed the sale on November 1st.

The new owners are reputable community newspaper publishers with compatible values in many respects to INI. They are bringing our lone Frostproof employee Cindy Monk aboard their company, giving her full credit and benefits for her years of service. That is gratifying to know, as Cindy worked hard and put significant “sweat equity” into serving her community with a weekly product. While we are sorry to see the Frostproof News leave the INI fold, we can feel good that the community will continue to be served by publishers who believe in stewardship, future of community journalism, and treating people fairly.

As I stated in the announcement in this week’s paper, The Frostproof News has had a tradition of covering and serving this unique community for many years, but this ownership change will be in the best interest of all concerned. We can all be proud our company has stayed true to our mission of providing journalistic service to the citizens of Frostproof. Thanks to all on the INI team who helped produce the newspaper every week.

Finally, we are trying to make the transition as simple and as seamless as possible for both companies as well as the community. We are working in several departments to smoothly take Frostproof out of the workflow while not interrupting service for Frostproof customers. Obviously, however, this change has come rather quickly, so thank you in advance for your help as we move forward. If you have any questions or concerns about the transition and how it might impact your department, please let your department head know or contact me directly at tbyrd@gte.net .

Thanks,

Tom

Independent Newspapers of Florida. publishes community newspapers in Okeechobee (Okeechobee News), Clewiston (Clewiston News), LaBelle (Caloosa Belle), Immokalee (Immokalee Bulletin), Moorehaven (Glades County Democrat) and Western Palm Beach County (The Sun) . Sun Coast Media Group publishes the Charlotte Sun, North Port Sun, Englewood Sun, Desoto Sun, the Venice Gondolier, and also the Polk County Democrat, Lake Wales News, Fort Meade Leader and the Lake Placid Journal.

Victoria Meades-Brown

Anniversary Profile
5 YEARS

Victoria Meades-Brown

Name: Victoria Meades-Brown

Newspaper: Delmarva group.

Position: Distribution Services Call Center Coordinator

Number of years in the newspaper or printing business: Five.

Job description: Coordinator in charge of reader services. The team handles delivery issues, receiving calls from customers for payments and complaints and customer follow up.

What I like best (about my job): I enjoy all aspects of my job, especially assisting the customers and knowing that their issues are being handled in a professional and timely manner.

Most memorable moment with INI: I do not have one special memory. My time with Independent Newspapers is an experience that I enjoy on a daily basis.

Hobbies/Interests: My hobbies are bowling (I have been unable to do so for a while), reading, and I enjoy spending time with my doggie (Herky).

Fun fact (about myself): I am a very laid back person. I do not accept stress in my life. I try to treat others the way I want to be treated. I believed that respect is not earned, it is learned. I'm a people person and enjoy helping others. I especially enjoy getting together with friends and family and enjoying the things in life that some take for granted. I believe strongly that God has big plans for me and my time here in this lifetime is meant to help others.

Mickey Meyer

Anniversary Profile
5 YEARS

Mickey Meyer

Name: Mickey Meyer

Number of years in the newspaper or printing business: This is my fifth Year

Job description: Ad Services/ and Receptionist. (West Valley office, AZ)

What I like best (about my job): Our Clients/Customers are Awesome. I enjoy meeting new faces daily.

Most memorable moment with INI: Winning the Excellence Award for Commitment for 2007

Hobbies/Interests: Music and vocal participation

Fun fact (about myself): Being musical I’m always asked to lead our group in the sing-a-long for birthday celebrations

Joan C. Barnwell

Joan C. Barnwell

Name: Joan C. Barnwell

Newspaper: Delaware State News

Position: Customer Service Specialist

Number of Years in the newspaper or printing business: I have worked for Delaware State News paper for 10 years. I was employed in the telemarketing department for 8 and ½ years and in customer service for 1 and ½ years.

Job description: Answer and direct all incoming telephone calls to appropriate departments and personnel; greet customers who come to the office to conduct business with INI; accept and log all cash, checks, money orders and credit cards for subscription and advertisement accounts; restart subscription accounts; assist advertisement departments with ads; work on assigned projects; assist with weekly bulletin and supplies and help out where ever I’m needed.

What I like best about my job: I enjoy helping customers learn how to navigate our web site to research information and just helping people in general.

Most memorable moment with INI: Moving to our new Dover campus on April 24, 2006.

Hobbies/Interest: I am an avid romance novel reader and lover of all music, but jazz and gospel are my favorite. I enjoy singing and sing in two choirs at my church. I also sing in two community choirs when time permits. I have two children; one lives in Georgia and the other in Florida. I love visiting with them and spending quality time with my one and only grandson.

Fun fact about me: I collect magnets from each city and state I visit for the first time. I am a lover of stuffed bears especially white ones and have them displayed in two of my bedrooms and family room. I love watching reruns of old television shows such as Little House on the Prairie, Bonanza, and movies on Lifetime.

Strategies for Independent’s future

Like most publishing companies, we are struggling to maintain healthy profit margins. For us, it has been a bit of a “double whammy” because the overall softening of advertising sales comes on top of the significant long-term investments we have been making in systems and equipment.

It is a comfort that we can thrive on lower profit margins than most companies. We are owned by a non-profit journalistic trust and don’t have to pay dividends to anybody, so 100% of our after-tax profits are reinvested in the company. But we still need profits in order to pay our debts and make investments in new products and equipment.

Together --- supported by our culture of shared leadership and individual accountability --- we will meet this challenge. However, it may require more creative and aggressive thinking than we have done previously. There’s no magic solution. It will require good planning, discipline and leadership from each and every one of us.

A key part of our strategy is to build revenues and profits in three separate areas: newspapers, commercial printing and websites.

a) Community newspapers still have excellent profit potential. It’s a tougher industry than it once was, and will require us to be good operators. We intend to be great operators!

b) By design, commercial printing is becoming a much more significant part of our business with solid double-digit growth rates. Delaware Printing Company is already producing encouraging results, and we see a similar opportunity to take our Arizona printing operation to the next level with a strategic investment in upgraded press equipment.

c) Our online products will eventually make a significant contribution, but they will take a bit longer to develop. However, our Public Forums at newszap.com had more than 10,000 new postings in August alone, and we have over 25,000 local photos and more than a million page views in the Post Your Photos feature. We think we’re on to something really good!

Here are 12 key profit improvement initiatives that we are aggressively pursuing, with the help of all of Independent’s people:

1. Sales accountability. We are committed to steadily increasing our advertising sales and productivity. Each individual member of our sales teams is being challenged to step up and accept personal responsibility for producing positive results.

2. Product closures. This wasn’t easy to face, but we closed five unprofitable Arizona weeklies in August and are eliminating two of our five offices there. We have also closed our unprofitable printing operation in Florida. Now we are focused on making sure that every one of Independent’s business units achieves minimum profit margins in the 5-10% range (which would still only be about half of the “industry standard”).

3. Operation Silver Lining. Good people don’t cost the company money; they help us make money and grow. However, there are times --- for any company --- when downsizing is necessary to match expenses with revenues and maintain profitability. Many companies engage in mass layoffs from which only top management is spared. We take a slower approach that we believe is kinder and fairer. “Operation Silver Lining” allows us to downsize gently via normal attrition (turnover) and by asking some individuals to accept transfers so that essential positions can be filled without hiring from outside the organization. Our people have always been willing to accept these challenges, and they are doing it again this time --- proving once again that our remarkably dedicated and flexible people are the most important key to this company’s success.

4. Delaware Printing Company. Profits will continue to improve at Delaware Printing Company as we continue to build our outside commercial printing sales to take advantage of the capacity, flexibility and efficiency of our new plant and press. We have already added $1.5 million annually in new outside commercial printing sales --- and more is on the way.

5. New press for Valley. We are planning to invest in a new press for our printing plant in Arizona. The new press will be more efficient (saving time and newsprint) and offer higher quality and additional color capacity. This will improve Valley’s profit margins and allow us to build our already successful commercial printing business in Arizona.

6. Free classifieds. We have plugged a profit leak by running free classifieds weekly instead of daily in Cambridge, Dover and Okeechobee, thereby cutting page counts and newsprint usage for our dailies. At the same time, we have protected and increased this important competitive advantage by raising the dollar limit (from $2,500 to $5,000) on items that can be advertised free. We now also offer free classified users the option of running the same ad in the popular Saturday (Cambridge) or Sunday (Dover and Okeechobee) issue for a flat $20, which should delight these advertisers, bring in new dollars and improve our profit margins.

7. Newszap.com advertising. Participation and page views are steadily increasing at our community websites. We expect even more momentum from an upcoming design that puts more emphasis on our highly popular Public Forums, and from new policies that promote “free ads & free speech” and “free speech with civility”. We are introducing new package rates for our newszap.com pages that will dramatically increase sales and profits. The new rates are based on page views and on prepaid annual commitments. The packages will be available online, and they will become an integral part of presentations by our advertising sales people to our clients and prospects.

8. ZapHomes.com. This innovative online real estate product was launched in June on Delmarva and is creating a lot of “buzz” in the market-place. ZapHomes.com already has over 500 listings that have been viewed over 20,000 times, and we expect it to emerge as another financial winner for our company.

9. Online classifieds. We have had a lot of success selling optional “top ad” positioning for online classified ads. We are now expanding this program to give advertisers another opportunity to “stand out”, and to bring in even more profitable “plus” sales. We’re also expanding our “turnkey” capacity to accept classified ad orders placed online by consumers.

10. Editorial system. We have proven that our new turnkey editorial production system works, thanks to the remarkable team of innovative INIers who developed it. We are now planning to decentralize pagination to our Arizona and Florida offices, which will allow us to phase out the company-wide pagination center in Dover. We will use “Operation Silver Lining” (#3 above) to make this transition a smooth one for our people.

11. e-Subscriptions. We are developing e-Editions for all of our print products, cost-justified by the savings we will achieve by eliminating the preparation and mailing of tear sheets. The e-Editions will also allow us to sell paid online subscriptions, which will be highly profitable because there will be no newsprint or delivery costs. We should also be able to use e-Subscriptions to build readership beyond our current distribution areas, to reduce vacation stops, and to promote readership more aggressively.

12. New online products. We have developed a whole new line of new targeted community guides (or Guides to Living) that not only appear in print, but also have complimentary versions online, and we have plans for several new targeted online products that could be launched in conjunction with or independently of complementary print products. These product launches will remain on hold until our overall company profits return to an acceptable level.

(Joe Smyth is the CEO of Independent. He can be reached by email at JoeSmyth@aol.com.)

News Services team member lends a hand with sports coverage.

By Michelle Tennis
News Services Editor/Northeast Valley

When speaking about fulfilling INI’s mission, News Services team member Daniel Quigley certainly works hard to fulfill that key value. And thanks to his hard work, it certainly shows in the North Scottsdale and Town of Paradise Valley Independent papers.

Each week, Dan is out in the field taking sports photos, networking and generating a buzz with our high school sports teams.

And that’s not all.

When he is not out in the field, he is in the office writing sports briefs, calling coaches and team members and bringing in profiles every week.

He works hand-in-hand with news editors and team members alike to make sure we have the most interesting sports news every week.
He makes certain other sports, that do not normally receive coverage, are not ignored. He recently contacted a rugby coach and asked if he would be interested in a profile.

Thanks to Dan, the future looks bright for our sports pages. Stay tuned to see what’s next.

The Journal

Katie Kazimir/Independent Newspapers

Logan Anderson, news services specialist, Jamie-Leigh Bissett, community news editor and Will Cox, sports writer, serve as The Journal’s editorial team – while pictured together here, they rarely see each other in the real world but connect in a virtual one to put out The Journal each week.

By Cathianne Werner-Porterfield

One-hundred-six years ago in downtown Harrington folks at the Harrington Journal worried that when they left the office on Gaines Alley each night after putting the paper to bed that lead liquid used for the paper’s lead type would sputter onto the wood floors of the newspaper’s office and set the place on fire.

And sometime around the turn of the previous century, that’s exactly what happened.

But the Harrington Journal arose from the ashes and this time the paper’s founder, Frank Fleming, rebuilt on Commerce Street and covered the paper’s wooden floors with tin to prevent another fire.

In those early days of the Harrington Journal, folks had a lot more to keep them stressed out than simple deadline pressure. In fact, they’d likely all shake their heads in disbelief to see how this paper has evolved over the decades and how a team of three dedicated journalists provide this community with the news they need, often without having to set foot in an office, let alone worrying about it burning down in their absence.

Much has happened since Independent Newspapers purchased The Harrington Journal from Chesapeake Publishing in 1996.

Community news editor Jamie Leigh-Bissett, who sits at the helm of this paper, now simply called The Journal, can work from home, the office or even on the fly. Thanks to technology, she’s a self-contained, reporting, editing and photo-taking machine.

“Not only am I responsible for making sure the front page is full of exhilarating news stories each week, but I also compile and edit the fire and police briefs, make sure the viewpoints are flowing, edit the photos for clarity, listen to and answer the needs of the community and any other task that will make The Journal the best it can be,” Mrs. Bissett said.

“The paper has made some tremendous progress in recent years and it only promises to get better. The first one that comes to mind is color pictures,” she said. “The addition of a new state-of-the-art printing press at Independent’s new headquarters in Dover has made it possible for readers to truly experience a picture worth a thousand words.”

And that’s just the paper version.

Readers can now benefit from free online subscriptions, she said.

Printing is not the only technology that has increased possibilities.

“In an effort to embrace the 21st century, a PDF version of The Journal can now be viewed online for free and is bringing local news not only to those living within the Lake Forest School District community, but those across the world.”

Subscribers to the e-edition range from local leaders, educators, parents and students to state officials and soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, she said.

“With the ability to reach such a wide range of folks, it has made my job easier by allowing contact with readers I may not have been able to reach in previous years.”

Moreover, she said, the Post Your News forums have enabled The Journal to keep its readers up-to-date on breaking news although the paper is printed just once a week.

All in all, technology has benefited the age-old tradition of newspaper journalism and INI has embraced the concept whole-heartedly.

When Mrs. Bissett, an Annapolis, Md. transplant and Mount St. Mary’s alum, isn’t sniffing out front-page stories and keeping in touch with her globe-trotting readers she’s spending time in Dover with her husband Steve and their boxer Kasha.

She enjoys yoga, playing softball for the Delaware State News Newshounds in a co-ed league, playing the drums and “watching the Washington Redskins tear up the NFL.”

Journal sports writer Will Cox could argue with Mrs. Bissett about that statement, being a staunch supporter of the San Francisco 49ers, but when it comes to local sports, there’s little if no argument that Will has it covered and well.

A relative rookie himself, Will graduated in 2006 from the University of Delaware with a degree in English-journalism and has carved out quite a niche for himself among the Spartan crowd.

“I began this position in February and I immediately tried building relationships in the community through the schools, Little League and Parks and Recreation program,” Mr. Cox said. “I wasn’t familiar with the community prior to working this job, but since then I’ve met a lot of great people in the area who have helped me out tremendously.

He said he knows The Journal is really the sole source of information and recognition for local athletes, so it’s important to cover all aspects from the school teams, to local cheerleading, to people in the area who have excelled in other places.

“This is my first opportunity in the business and covering an area like Harrington and working with The Journal for these eight months has made the experience very enjoyable.”

Nestled between Mrs. Bisset’s front page news and Mr. Cox’s sports page is a wealth of useful community news. That’s where News Services Specialist Logan Anderson comes into play.

After a brief hiatus from INI to pursue an interest in photography and custom framing in late 2006 Logan Anderson returned to the company in News Services.

“When News Services Editor Cat called in early January to see if I would come back and work for editorial I jumped at the chance,” Mr. Anderson said. “I missed INI and I really missed writing.”

Since returning, Logan has been stationed in the Sussex Post and Leader & State Register Office in Seaford, though he can be found in the Milford Office once a week.

“The virtual office concept gives me the freedom to work in any office. I am able to help out with a lot of other stuff too, like the Guides to Living and the other papers in our group. Since returning, I have been able to help out almost every paper we have on Delmarva from my desk in Seaford,” Mr. Anderson said.

While Advertising Manager Sharon Conaway keeps a desk at our Dover office -- good luck tying to find her there.

“I rely heavily on my laptop and cell phone to do my daily duties,” Mrs. Conway said.

Like Mr. Anderson, Mrs. Conaway also left for a while to pursue other interests but has returned.

“I started with INI in June 2003,” she said. “I was a member of a three- person Direct Sales Team. After about 6 months, I was promoted to Classifieds Team Leader. After about a year in that position, I was presented with an opportunity to return to my first love – teaching. I left INI in November 2004 to be Program Coordinator for a federally funded program called High School – High Tech (HSHT). Due to budget cuts and the war on terror, our funds were drastically cut. Thankfully, INI welcomed me back with open arms.”

Mrs. Conaway said she “beats the pavement to sell businesses who don’t advertise with us.”

“I do everything from going to a funeral home (my absolute biggest fear) and being mocked by a talking bird to helping with a grand opening,” she said. “When duty calls, I put my fears aside and answer.”

A Delaware native, Mrs. Conaway knows her territory of Southern Kent County. And more than just a sales territory, southern Delaware really is home to her and husband and their two daughters.

“Being in Milton and Lewes made me the beach bum that I am,” she said. “I love Broadkill, Lewes, Rehoboth, Dewey, Bethany and Ocean City. We like to go fishing on the pier at Cape Henlopen State Park or at Broadkill. We also enjoy walking on the boardwalk, hanging out at the Rusty Rudder, or playing games and munching pizza at Grand Slam. I also enjoy bowling and playing Internet games.

Aside from being a great community news source, there is little Harrington Journal founder Frank Fleming would recognize about what the paper he began has become today.

Valley team exceeds challenge!

by Steve Steinke

Click here for related photo of Rob Giarraputo, Mike Jacobs, and Steve at Press Lines' "People in the News with Photos"!

I can't tell you how proud I am of our team at Valley for taking on the challenge of The College Times. As a direct result of the open schedule opportunities we have created over the last year, we finally were able to build a window big enough on Tuesday nights to make a job like this happen.

Without assigning specific actions to anyone in particular, we followed our established guidelines. We began working on every step from running test files, site visits for Marc Tropio and Phil Bisesi, credit and payment history and application through VaRonda Krusemark, and a number of team meetings to share what we were learning. With Mike Jacobs guiding our steps and those of our new client as well, we then worked through the logistics of making it happen.

This is a job that requires high quality files, quick turnaround and inserting of two or more sections, and even loading a specific way on our truck for unloading at their distribution point.

A couple of weeks ago we had our first cycle of activity with this client, and press coordinator Rob Giarraputo stepped up to his challenge by being there through each press run overnight.

Zenaida Matute and Maria Orozco were at the plant into the early AM hours to oversee preparation, inserting, and individual skid-building. That was followed by our driver, Dennis Gonzalez, who arrived promptly at 4 am to wrap and prepare the skids, and then at 5 am by Mike Jacobs for a final check of the sequential loading order of the skids on the truck before Dennis hit the road for a daybreak delivery.

The inspiring part of this team is that while I have encouraged this type of proactive and interactive approach, I never once had to ask anyone to alter their hours or schedule or time commitment to make these things happen. They all did it on their own.

Their own accountability, Valley's reputation as a leader in Arizona, and their own pride and ownership shined through.

This is the first printing of this complex job, but our customer's reaction to our attention, service, and quality was excellent.

Here was a comment we received from one of their key staffers.

Good morning, Marc!

The paper looks beautiful! The color looks great, and the black and white pages are particularly crisp. Thank you so much for all your help … you guys are
great!

Beth

This job represents (on the conservative side) about $320,000 in new annual commercial revenue. And while we had to price it competitively (we were in the running with four printers), we believe that this should be not only an account we can be proud of, but a profitable account for our company.

At a time when competition in this marketplace may see INI and Valley as somewhat tentative, College Times is a leveling factor that keeps the morale high.

As the David among Goliaths, I just wanted to express my pride in how hard our team members are trying to sustain respect here in the Arizona marketplace.

The next time you arrive in Phoenix through Sky Harbor International Airport, check out the newspaper vending machines they allow in their gate area corridors.

Right there among the "biggies" like the Wall Street Journal and USA Today you will find The College Times.

And, as stated by a famous journalist by the name of Paul Harvey. "Now you know the "rest of the story!"

Newszap.com in place to complement,not replace, Independent’s newspapers

By John S. Wolfe
Director of News Development

For about the last seven years, newspaper companies across the country have experimented with how to integrate the Internet in the dissemination of news, the evolution of advertising, and the perpetuation of a market position.

Many companies – large and small – took the approach of essentially putting all of their content online, for free. Not surprisingly, many customers – most with computers or access to one – realized they could get the news they wanted without having to fork over a subscription check every three or six months. (One government spokesman I know recently shared that he had done just that.)

The result has been annual double-digit erosion of many newspapers’ circulations, declines in advertising revenue, and laments about the entire industry’s future. No duh!

Independent, because of our size, decided years ago not to be on the “bleeding” edge of the Internet wave. It never made sense to us to suddenly give one’s products away without a realistic strategy for recouping advertising dollars.

While many companies stepped in line to join the lemmings approaching the cliff, we waited on the sidelines and observed.

Two years ago we made the conscious decision to not create “newspaper” websites for our products. Instead, we saw an opportunity that was a better fit to our company’s mission: to create “community” websites.

We would invite citizens to use the websites as local bulletin boards and offer every local organization and business a free link. We complemented that content with selected front-page stories from our newspapers.

Last year we expanded the offerings with the introduction of Post Your News forums, Post Your Public Event calendars, and Post Your Photos galleries.

The Post Your Opinion forums – giving citizens an online “voice,” crucial to our mission – struck a nerve. It’s been amazing to see vibrant discussions of public issues taking place every day in many of our communities.

The best and most timely news items, comments and photos could be “culled” for use in the newspaper.

Not surprisingly, the number of visits to the newszap websites has jumped in the last year. The number of monthly visitors to the newszap forums has doubled in the last 12 months. The number of registrants to the newszap forums has increased 33 percent in the last six months and the number of posts has consistently increased 5 percent each month.

The number of Post Your Photos users has doubled in the last six months and we now have more than 23,000 community photos online.

We have supplemented this content with selected items generated by the newspaper staffs. Some individuals have begun posting “issue” stories in the forums and daily blurbs in Post Your News to stoke interest in community issues. Comments posted by citizens may be used in the Sound Off and Speak Out columns or provide the staff member with ideas for follow-up stories.

A wide array of photo galleries from community festivals, athletic events and school activities have been created, multiplying the number of names and faces we can “publish” and, thus, touching more people.

Interestingly, many in the industry are coming around to this strategy. Numerous trade-magazine articles in the last six months have promoted ways for websites to engage citizen contributors – by soliciting their news items, their calendar events and their photos. Only a few, however, give more than lip service to the campaign; finding the reader-generated content on a newspaper website can be frustratingly difficult.

Our strategy is to continue to publish viable newspapers with unique, compelling content for a local audience, while offering something different and community-driven online. Each community website can be a hub for news, opinions, calendars, links, and photos.

In this way, the newszap.com websites can serve the community and augment the terrific content we publish in our newspapers. We can use the websites to share breaking news, solicit comments and insights from residents, and disseminate additional information, links and images.

Everyone can be a part of this effort to promote the newspapers and newszap.com!

Every office should have “Post Your …” newszap cards that can be shared with community contributors and contacts. Staff members who take photos can distribute “You’ve Been Zapped!” cards to the people they take photos of, to make them aware their photo will be online. We also have fliers that ask volunteers to participate in the Post Your Opinion forums.

We think the public issues forums are our most unique feature, providing a place for individuals to share their opinions anonymously on local issues. By promoting “Free Speech (with Civility),” we believe newszap.com has the potential to be one of the country’s leading opinion websites.

We will be continuously changing the websites, adding enhancements, improving the design and functionality and encouraging more citizen involvement.

If you have ideas about ways we can continue to make newszap.com stand out, please drop me a line at jwolfe@newszap.com. I’d love hear from you!

Advertising director pitches new program

Photo: Charlene Patti Bisson

Advertising Sales rep Laura Riffle gives her best Vanna White performance as she shows off the scoreboard she made for the Sun City office’s baseball ad program. Ad Services team member Mickey Meyer cuts out and displays the baseball ads near Laura’s creation.

By Charlene Patti Bisson

They say a little competition never hurts anyone and that proves to be true in Arizona’s sales division.

Apache Junction and Scottsdale sales teams are teaming up against Sun City and are competing against each other in a friendly game of baseball, but not in the traditional sense.

Advertising Director Michael Mall is sending his batters out to hit a plethora of grand slams with business owners. Mike introduced a baseball ad program at the beginning of summer and challenged team members to sell at least eight-week contracts to new advertisers or business stakeholders who have not been in our newspapers for six months or more!

“It’s a great way to either introduce or reintroduce advertisers to the success of using INI,” Mike said.

Sept. 19 is the target for the last of the eight-week contracts to kick off.

Laura Riffle pumped up the sales team’s enthusiasm by creating a scoreboard decked with fancy features such as a baseball diamond. Laura updates the scoreboard as often as possible.

“I thought it would motivate the team,” Laura said. “Just so everyone in the office was aware of what’s going on.”

Ad Services team member Mickey Meyer, who Mike often calls Sun City’s secret weapon, also pitched a fantastic idea and started clipping the ads after they published. He pins the ads to a cork board near Laura’s creation to add momentum to the game.

A few weeks into the competition – and 25 ads later – the team held a pep rally Aug. 6 to boost sales efforts after Laura and an editorial team member found out the AJ/Scottsdale sales team office was in the lead.

Office Sales Manager and 10-year team member DC Clark handed out the paper baseballs so editorial team members could pass along even more ads leads to the sales team. Advertising team members will post the baseballs up for all to steal a glimpse if a contract is caught. So far, the Sun City team has raised has scored the most in revenue.

According to Mike, the official ump and scorekeeper, AJ/Scottsdale sales team is in the lead with 30 ads with Sun City moving in fast with 27.

Office Sales Manager Lisa Grassie drums up excitement for her team on a daily basis. The six-year team member keeps track of the AJ/Scottsdale sales team ads on a bulletin board by listing the names of the advertisers and who sold them.

“Basically we are trying to have fun and get everyone out there,” Lisa said. “We are contacting as many people as possible. We look forward to gearing things up. We have a lot more feet out there.”

She added her team also has delivered impressive revenue with their “at bats” through the baseball program.

Darel La Prade

Darel LaPrade at Camden Yards (Baltimore, MD) on Father’s Day

Name: Darel La Prade

Newspaper: Corporate Operations

Position: Vice President – Corporate Operations

Number of years in the newspaper or printing business: I have been in and out of the newspaper business for more than 30 years. My first job out of college was as a district manager for the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va. I managed 35 paper boys and girls, who were responsible for delivering more than 5,000 newspapers. I still remember those early mornings, hitting those lonely streets at 4 a.m., fueled by coffee, and enjoying the weird sense of power that goes with being young and awake at that hour. Later, I became a regular contributor to the Pilot’s Sunday book review section, and after two stints in graduate school, I landed on my feet as a reporter and then as editor of a weekly newspaper in Caroline County, Va. The office address was 10 Courthouse Lane, and that said more about that little weekly than almost anything – it was a small county seat newspaper, and we made coverage of the court house the centerpiece of our work. I will never forget my first story assignment was to cover a murder trial. My editor told me that all the drama of life took place in that court house, and he was absolutely right. I eventually ended up on the Outer Banks of North Carolina running a group of newspapers, which included everything from a fishing monthly – the “Fish Wrapper” – to a little slick tourism magazine, called “Surfside News.” Eventually, after five years, I shifted directions and spent a couple of years working in elective politics. Politics, though, was not my cup of tea, and I found a job managing a group of community weeklies in Virginia. There were six papers in the group, and like my first assignment, five out of the six papers had addresses that included the words “Court House.” My next job was in Ocean City, Md., where I managed a group of resort papers along the Maryland-Delaware coast. These papers were eventually sold to Thomson and then to Gannett. When the sale took place, I knew I was going to be out of work; I remember calling my wife to bemoan my bad luck. But as it often does, bad luck turned into really good luck because I soon was offered a job with INI. That was 11 years ago, and I have always appreciated the irony that the consolidation in the newspaper business – something INI stands against – led me here.

Job description: My hope is that all of our business systems will operate and interact seamlessly, providing companywide efficiencies and cost-savings, so that we can remain competitive in the marketplace. I want our employees to use these systems to increase their personal productivity, and our systems and network will help everyone to become a true “knowledge-worker.” If the services provided by corporate operations can offer a solid, yet flexible platform to allow our company to grow physically and virtually, I’d be happy. My goal is that we will be lean and agile. Work and reports should be on time, accurate and useful to our managers and employees. My goal is that corporate operations should set a companywide example for pursuing service above self, and that everyone on my team will uphold and practice our shared values. I am passionate about our newspapers, web sites and printing operations, and I am completely committed to free speech and our particular brand of community journalism.

What I like best (about my job): The aspect of my job that I like the most is figuring out how to solve problems. I tell myself it would be great to have a week when there are no problems, but if that ever happened, I wonder what I would do. Solving problems well requires one to listen well, because most problems, at least those that tend to create pressure or conflicts, usually originate from somebody knowing something that someone else doesn’t know but needs to know. Listening empathetically and asking leading questions is a kind of art that one may learn best by being a reporter, and I thank my lucky stars almost everyday for having had the good fortune of working in a newsroom early in my career. People need to know you are willing to take responsibility for a mistake or an error, even if you didn’t commit it. Knowing this promotes unfettered communication. I try to let everyone in my operation know that I will support them as long as they work hard, tell the truth and treat others with respect. As a result, people who report to me are usually open, honest and willing to cooperate whenever things go south.

Most memorable moment with INI: Like most of us, I have had a few memorable moments. I suppose the most memorable one occurred several years ago, when I was the Delmarva ad director. I had been in New York City all day long making calls on various ad agencies – literally beating the pavement. Stupidly, I had worn a new pair of shoes, and during the day, I had rubbed blisters on my heels. My feet hurt! And I had one more call to make, which required that I walk another five blocks. I just couldn’t stand it, so I stopped at a drug store to buy bandages. After purchasing them, I sat on the floor right next to the cashier and took off my cruel shoes and socks to assuage my burning blisters. I limped the final three blocks to my appointment, but instead of walking the 10 blocks back to my hotel, I waved down a cab!

Hobbies/Interests: I have lots of interests outside of work, including woodworking, gardening, reading, old movies and listening to music. But my favorite two pastimes are baseball and cooking. I am a rabid NY Yankees fan. I grew up in Richmond, Va., where the Yankees once had their Triple-A farm team. I started playing organized baseball when I was 6, and I still play today. For the last five years, I have been playing competitive slow-pitch softball, and I take great pride in the fact that I am the oldest guy in the league who’ll still slide head first into third base. Cooking, though, is my means of daily relaxation. I like to take lots of chances when I cook, and I rely on my southern heritage as a foundation – I grew up knowing how to cook with buttermilk – and I love the fact that I now live on the Delmarva Peninsula where all sorts of Hispanic and Caribbean influences and ingredients are so evident and available. I consider myself an amateur pioneer in creating a truly new American cuisine.

Fun fact (about myself): I am a tie-dyed Dead Head. Almost five years ago, I spent my 50th birthday at a reunion concert of the band, sans Jerry Garcia. I have attended more than 50 concerts over the years; my first was in Watkins Glen, N.Y., when I was a sophomore in college; Garcia was still alive then! (The best was at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., when Dylan was touring with the Dead.) At any rate, I got hooked and have been a fan of improvisational rock ever since.

Steve Steinke

Steve with granddaughters Olivia and Emma

Name: Steve Steinke

Newspaper: Valley Newspapers

Position: General Manager

Number of years in the newspaper or printing business: 28

Job description: As General Manager of Valley Newspapers my primary job is to help define and guide our standards of printing and operations. Then, within those standards I encourage the growth of our people, our client base, and the relationships between the two. The INI philosophies of shared leadership and personal responsibility are a perfect complement to these goals. With the print operation extending over 24 hours and almost a full seven days, there is a great need to not only coordinate the workload, but communicate between various teams along the way. I work with our teams to assure that we set our standards high, provide quality service around the clock if needed, and provide for a safe, healthy, and positive working experience for everyone here at the plant.

I also have the responsibility of developing good people who are given the latitude to grow and use consensus, not just me, to make decisions. I continue to encourage those around me to think and function in that way.

What I like best (about my job): We have a great group of people who look upon each new opportunity with excitement and enthusiasm. We've grown the company consistently by challenging ourselves and believing that "continuous improvement" is always part of the equation. A great day for me is when one of our employees feels good about the contribution they've made.

Most memorable moment with INI: I've had some good ones, but the most memorable moment had to be when I came to work at the new plant the first full day that it opened. We had worked on the project for many months, and walking into the new office that morning left quite an impression on me. I knew we were off on quite an adventure. It hasn't disappointed me!

Hobbies/Interests: I discovered long ago that I was better able to appreciate my work, grow professionally and personally, if I could also get away from it and focus on other interests as well.

Aside from my 28 years in printing, I've spent a lifetime studying weather as a hobby. I was co-founder of an international group of weather enthusiasts which for 14 years had a solid base of several thousand members around the world. I was editor and publisher of their monthly weather publication. I still am actively involved with others who enjoy weather as a hobby, and just this summer contributed material to a local weather almanac assembled by longtime weathercaster Ed Phillips right here in Phoenix. I'm never far away from sticking my head in the clouds! (My staff would agree!)

And for almost thirty years, I have been active as a local appointed or elected government official. I even ran (and thankfully lost) for mayor of my hometown back in Illinois in the early 1980's. Today I am serving a second term with the Scottsdale Planning Commission.

I have also volunteered and given back to the communities where I live. It is my way of saying thank you for the opportunities. Whether as a trained wish granter for Make-A-Wish, or sponsoring a community kite day, I have always had my hands on something community-spirited.

And of course, my two (so far) granddaughters in California are a light of my life these days! They love their Papa!! They are moving to San Francisco from Los Angeles in August, and so we'll be visiting them in their new home later this year.

Fun fact (about myself): Being over 60, I participate as an online "advice-giver" for the Elder Wisdom Circle, a group of some 600 people, age 60-100, who offer life wisdom and experience to those around the world who need a listening ear. Oh, the stories I have been told!

...and, looking back over the decades, how about this one? After my return from Vietnam in 1970, I worked two jobs (one full time and one part-time) for 27 consecutive years. I don't know if my marriage to wife Kathy survived because of that, or in spite of that! But we will celebrate 37 years together next February.

Pat Lee

Pat Lee

Name: Pat Lee

Newspaper: Delmarva Group

Position: Advertising Director

Years in Business: 8 years in the Newspaper Industry; 12 years in Publishing as an Advertising Copywriter for Simon & Schuster

Job Description: As Advertising Director, I strive to increase advertising revenue in all products through employee coaching & consulting, and by creating advertising programs. I work to increase efficiencies and productivity and to build and strengthen community ties.

What I like best about my job is helping others: helping sales people to become better at what they do and helping customers to reach their goals.

Most memorable moment with INI: My first Management brainstorming session where I got to meet Joe Smyth, John Wolfe and Tom Byrd for the first time.

Hobbies/Interests: Skiing,cycling, kickboxing and reading. More than anything or anyone else, I absolutely adore my daughter.

Fun Fact (about myself): I earned a brown belt in Thai kickboxing - as the only girl between two brothers, learning how to fight was essential to my survival!!!

New Group Director of Advertising

Mike Mall

Independent Newspapers, Inc. has hired Mike Mall as its new Director of Advertising for its community newspaper group in the Phoenix metropolitan area.

Mike was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland where he lived for several years before moving to Harford County, Maryland with his wife Theresa, daughter Alex and son Brandon.

He comes to Independent Newspapers, Inc. with 20 years of newspaper experience. In 1987, Mike started his career as a Classified Telephone Sales Rep with the Baltimore Sun. In his 13 years with the Sun, Mike also served as Classified Manager, Territory Sales Rep and Major Accounts Senior Executive.

He then moved on to take over the Major Accounts Director position for Patuxent Publishing Company, a Chicago Tribune-owned weekly newspaper serving over 350,000 homes in and around the Baltimore, Maryland area. During his tenure at Patuxent, Mike also became heavily involved with Suburban Newspapers of America, a non-profit trade association representing over 2,000 suburban and community newspapers.

With SNA, Mike was on the Advertising Committee, Marketing Committee and eventually was seated on their Board of Directors. Mike left Patuxent in early 2005 to become Suburban Newspapers of America’s Advertising and Membership Relations Director. Although he really enjoyed his time with SNA, Mike missed the “day to day” involvement of being with a newspaper which brought him in the direction of Independent Newspapers, Inc.

Mike’s education includes the Loyola College of Maryland, School of Supervisory Leadership as well as American Press Institute’s Executive Development Program. He is also a 4th Degree Knight and Past Grand Knight in the Knights of Columbus.

With Independent Newspapers, Mike will be responsible for coaching the classified and display advertising staffs and overseeing the day-to-day operations and growth of the advertising department, as well as the group’s online advertising.

Purpose and a cause embraced can turn customers into raving fans

The book Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force by Ben McDonnell and Jackie Huba has been added to the Company Library as a highly recommended item. It can be ordered from the INI Toolbox on the network at initoolbox.com/library.htm

This book describes the ways a company and its employees can attract raving fans to their cause, who will spread the word about its products and services beyond the realm of traditional marketing. The secrets lie in how the company energizes its work force and its customers with a cause that can be easily embraced. The list of companies profiled includes Southwest Airlines, IBM, Build-A-Bear Workshop, and the Dallas Mavericks. The other lesson in the book: One person can influence thousands.

An excellent summary of the book by John Wolfe appears on the network at initoolbox.com/summaries/evangelists.htm