Independent’s Excellence Makes Our Communities Better Places To Live
There seems to be a silver thread running through every excellence award recipient this year and that is they excel at what they do AND they teach others how to excel as well. Below you will read about the people in our groups who are making a difference in our communities and in our workplace. We congratulate each for being nominated for this Excellence Award by their peers.
The recipients of the 2010 Excellence Awards are listed below in alphabetical order by region.
Arizona
Duane Clark
Advertising Manager
West Valley office
Leadership/shared leadership
Duane Clark returned to Independent Newspapers in January 2009. He understands the value of self-empowerment and he shares his knowledge about sales with those around him. He built his book of business from an average of $3,000 a week to an average of $12,000 a week in the past year. His leadership has also helped the publisher become a better sales coach through his shared techniques and approaches that she has passed onto others.
Richard H. Dyer
Editor
East Valley Office, Apache Junction
Leadership Shared Leadership
Richard is a leader who encourages and challenges you to do your best and doesn’t let you settle for less than that. He takes opportunities to teach what he needs to and then allows us to go with what we’ve learned and build upon those ourselves. He truly does help all of us that he works with to “become all we can be.” He’s honest in his leadership role and it’s always refreshing to work with someone who not only tells you when you do something wrong, but also when you do something right. He continually consults and seeks consensus to the fullest practical extent among our editorial team as we progress in our work, our abilities and our product. He has a rare knack for showing others that he or she has something to contribute.
We have become a close-knit editorial team who doesn’t settle for less than our very best. Because of Richard’s leadership as managing editor, we have grown in our abilities as he challenges us to learn and do more, and shows great appreciation when we earn it. He’s a good leader who inspires us to do better, not a supervisor who tells us what we need to do. We produce newspapers weekly that each of us is proud of because of our contributions individually and as a team.
Richard’s years of service to Independent Newspapers shows a deep level of commitment and through those years he has gained a level of expertise. He has good insight to effective reporting and in giving readers what they want, and sometimes what they need, in informative articles that help them understand key issues. Each week the cover stories as well as inside articles attempt to provide information to our readers and the quest to provide what’s important to our readers is driven by Richard’s leadership.
It is stated that “Excellence awards recognize those individuals who…make Independent a better place in which to work and our communities better places in which to live.” Richard truly exemplifies this statement. He works long, hard hours each week and gives every effort in making Independent a better place to work for all of us in the East Valley office and making our communities better places to live.
Brian Keller
Advertising Manager
North Valley Sales
Results
When Brian is working in the office he brings a great team spirit to the group. He is very energetic and that is very contagious!
He is the sales manager for the North Valley and has made Independent very well known by our local organizations. He has involved our company in many organizations such as "Shop with a Cop" at Christmas Time, and many others. He is committed to making his papers be the best in his community.
He keeps the excitement up in the department. Always letting the team know when he has made a good sale, tries to make us all jealous! Brian makes others want to make the next sale! Brian always has a smile on his face. He has his own special way of selling and it works for him because he has a great relationship with all of his customers!
Debbie Myers
Ad Services Specialist
West Valley office
Commitment
Debbie has been an anchor in the West Valley throughout 2009. She weathered losing a part-time graphics person as he was transferred to another division. She quickly took on his work, and although at first sales were down, she gracefully adjusted her work week as sales began to surge. Debbie rarely requests overtime, and she always makes deadline. She also double checks the sales team to make sure our advertisers have great looking ads with accurate information. The team highly respects Debbie and appreciates all she does each week in graphics.
Maria Luisa Orozco
Material Handler, Mail/Insertion Dept
Valley Newspapers
Teamwork
Maria can always be counted on to do a great job. She keeps the Mail and Insertion dept accurate and on time; on track, and minimizes errors. She always comes to work with a positive attitude and is always willing to work different hours if necessary.
Terrance Thornton
News Editor
East Valley Office, Apache Junction
Purposeful Newspapers
Terrance strives daily to provide citizens with the knowledge they need to make rational decisions about public issues. In the spring of 2009, Terrance was put in a challenging situation of being the news editor for three East Valley newspapers. As daunting as that might have been, he dug in to cover not only the third largest city in Arizona (Mesa), but also two other vibrant communities of Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek/San Tan Valley. He didn't try to take any shortcuts but immediately began getting to know the people in the communities and what issues were important to them. We are always impressed that while he tries to keep a professional working relationship with community leaders and officials, he never writes for them but always for the citizen. He neither shies away from a story that might rile elected officials, if the story is one that needs to be told and is important to the people, nor investigative stories that require public records and sifting through stacks of information, even if that takes considerable more time than a normal story would. He is passionate about doing a good job and being a hard-working reporter.
We certainly have three purposeful newspapers that come out of the East Valley office. Terrance provides readers in all of the communities with articles that help them understand key issues. The information is timely, relevant and very useful in understanding important topics. A San Tan Valley resident said "Your paper is the best we have out here; you don't just publish press releases but you go after the story." In receiving a comment and compliment like that we credit Terrance for that kind of reporting.
The Independent has a reputation of having integrity in its journalistic mission. We provide important, timely news to our readers and Terrance's efforts continue to uphold that tradition. He is a passionate reporter and writer – often going after the hard stories - and that helps all of us on the editorial team to be excited to work here and do our best. His enthusiasm sparks all of us to put in the time and effort required to achieve excellence and be the kind of newspaper we want it to be, and a product that we can be proud of. There's a feeling that it is much more than just a job.
Terrance works long hours and does an incredible job in meeting the demands placed upon him as the news editor of three (soon to be five) newspapers in the East Valley. Much of that demand he places on himself as he strives to do the best job possible and to be an excellent, professional reporter. That shows in every issue that this office publishes.
Delmarva
Jena Connor
Accounts Payable Specialist
Corporate Services
Learning
Jena was transferred from the news room to a position in corporate services as she wanted to learn more about the corporate side of the business. Jena is continuously willing to learn about her position and the understanding of accounting.
She has made a huge difference in the accounts payable position by learning not only a job she had never done before, but also took on the responsibility to stream line the processes to be more efficient in every aspect of her job.
Jena's willingness to improve the processes of her job has made the accounts payable position more efficient. Her impact to the company has been to ensure that INI continues to be a great customer to our vendors by keeping everything up to date and not allowing our accounts to go past due with anyone.
Jena is continually learning new aspects of the SBS system in which we are working towards having her be the back up to the systems operations (Linda Sabo). Her background and education in computers is extremely helpful when we have issues with our programs.
Heather Cregar
Advertising Development Director
Delaware State News, but serves the entire Delmarva group of newspapers
Results
Heather is always willing to take on additional tasks and go beyond what is expected of her. She recognizes the importance of positioning the newspapers and company in a positive light and constantly does a wonderful job of presenting us in that spirit, whether it is in our house ads or at a major community function.
Heather has stepped in numerous times to serve as the interim ad manager in Dover, in addition to handling her regular group-wide duties. She's always willing to help every office and every display salesperson handle the administrative details involved in the day-to-day operations. This includes the promotional planning, billing details and graphic needs. People learn to lean on Heather and she always comes through.
Heather knows what needs to be done and does it, without always being asked. She helps others succeed and there is no better impact than that!
Christine Damiano
Delivery Service Specialist
Delaware State News
Results
Christine is always ready to learn more and she accepts challenges easily. Christine started with INI as a down route specialist. She moved to the reader services team and learned the circulation system and how to deal with customers. She demonstrated an ability to learn quickly and began taking on some of the administrative duties for the distribution department.
She can assist with the CAC reports; returns, contracts, running various reports; just about anything that needs to be done. She has even assisted with down routes in a pinch. She displays an eagerness to know as much as possible about the operation. She volunteers to assist anyone in the department who may need help with a project or just their daily duties when time allows. She has also assisted in Customer Service when they were short-staffed.
She is a hard worker; we have never heard her say ‘I can't do this’; she is always willing to help no matter what the job; she is always there for the team and the company no matter what the challenge or task. She is always upbeat and cheerful and brings a good attitude to the team.
Jaclyn Fuller
Production Coordinator
Delaware Printing Company
Results
In October of 2009 Jaclyn made the transformation from Sales Manager to Production Coordinator at DPC. The production coordinator position is the “brain center” for all that happens at the printing company. All information from our customer’s and information required for the employees of DPC to do their jobs pass through Jaclyn’s office.
This job requires a person who can handle a multitude of tasks throughout the day from preparing the schedules for printing, inserting, mailing and deliveries to invoicing our clients, collecting monies, creating postal reports, answering a constantly ringing phone and, most importantly, doing it all with a warm smile and a “can do!” attitude.
Jaclyn comes fully armed with all the qualities necessary for the position and a dogged determination that whatever she’s involved with everyone will have the full details and information to complete their job.
Within a few short weeks of Jaclyn taking over this position it was evident to our employees and our customers that things were smoothing out and running better than ever before. All our customers just love working with Jaclyn and so do our employees.
Bottom line… Jaclyn has a great knack to help make work a lot more fun all the while being the consummate professional required to run a commercial printing business the likes of DPC.
Craig Horleman
Copy Editor
Delaware State News
Self-Management
Simply put, Craig Horleman stepped up when we needed hands-on acceptance of responsibility in the newsroom. He has assumed a sense of ownership for the Finally Friday entertainment section, special sections, feature pages, Public Forum pages and more.
Craig's organizational and editing skills allow him to efficiently produce quality work. With public and staff submissions to the newspapers, he is very much trusted to handle copy well.
Craig also has taken on a column in the Finally Friday section called "Best Bets." If you're lacking for something to do in Kent County on a weekend, it's because you didn't take time to read his column.
Mike Lewis
Copy Editor
Delaware State News
Results
Mike stepped up as the primary night news copy editor for the Delaware State News as we dealt with staff reductions and restructuring. His skill with editing, InDesign pagination software and organizational ability made him a great fit for the role. He's a sharp editor and solid communicator. The newsroom is in good hands with Mike, and you can count on him to meet deadlines!
With strong people like Mike on the staff, we were able to adjust staffing in the newsroom to deal with a difficult economy. And, to put it in a way that makes the greatest difference, he maintained our level of quality.
Mike certainly leads by example and dives in to help others on the staff regularly.
Mike's commitment to getting a quality paper together was perhaps never more evident than when he braved a nasty December snowstorm to get to the office. He turned four strategically arranged desk chairs into a cot and stayed through another deadline.
Kitt Parker
Managing Editor/Delaware Weeklies
Milford office
Commitment
Kitt’s enthusiasm coupled with her “can-do” spirit inspires others. She’s a true servant leader who jumps in and rolls up her sleeves to achieve goals and meet deadlines.
Kitt has been instrumental in the recent merger of the Sussex Post and the Leader & State Register into what is now a 30,000 circulation countywide newspaper, The Sussex County Post. At the same time she played a key role in “merging” the Milford Chronicle and The Journal into one press run with shared content. She has worked closely with her team leader and her local team of editors as well as other key INI teams to pull off a high quality transformation in record time. Kitt plowed through the logistics of these changes including hundreds of details even while her staff was being downsized and additional projects were thrown her way.
The transformation of the Delaware weeklies has positioned these papers to be the dominant products in their markets which will result in sales growth and higher quality newspapers for our readers. Kitt is a real pleasure to work with. She’s upbeat, energetic, focused. She is extremely well-organized, enjoys new challenges and is quick to grasp new concepts and take on new projects.
Kim Rosso
Accountant
Corporate Services
Commitment
Kim is dedicated to the position of accountant and shows this dedication with her continuous efforts to hold high standards, accuracy of work, willingness to go the extra step to get the job done by continuous learning of the systems, her willingness to step in and assist whenever needed, and put in the extra hours required to meet our deadlines.
Her continuous growth in knowledge of accounting, making sure that everything is completed accurately and in a timely manner so that we can continue to make or exceed our deadlines is a major plus for the accounting department.
Kim’s willingness to step in and assist in researching and finding the root of a problem; her communication and teaching skills to other dept. employees along with fellow team members is appreciated.
Kim has been a great asset to the company during this time of downsizing and shows that whatever it takes to get the job done she will do. Kim will work long hours, at home and on vacation to get the job completed by deadline. Dedication, dependability, friendliness, cooperation are just a few of the characteristics that makes Kim a great INI team player.
Debra Luke & Lisa Bryner
Credit/Collections Specialists
Corporate Services
Teamwork
The collection team has been downsized from five full time collection specialists to two. Debra and Lisa are committed in keeping the collection ship on a consistent and positive path. Both are dedicated to their roles within the department plus willing to take on more to do what is needed to benefit INI.
In addition to an increase to their routine duties, Debra and Lisa added to their repertoire of duties, the roles of payroll back up and subscriber payment handling back up respectively. Both also handle the month-end stuffing of advertising invoices for the billing team as well as monitoring the bill team call queue.
The willingness and eagerness by both to step in and assist other departments, is readily seen by other managers, AND the classified and ad teams are quick to enlist their help in researching customer issues as well.
We are fortunate to have such a hard working and committed collection team. Debra and Lisa display strong characteristics as being dependable and always eager to learn and assist wherever needed. No matter what is asked; or during the course of their routine duties, both always maintain an upbeat attitude with a smile.
Florida
Dale Conyers
Ad Services Coordinator
Caloosa Belle
Learning
Dale is a learner and doer who enjoys mastering new things and sharing his knowledge with others in his workgroup. He's always ready to pitch in and help out where needed, as evidenced by his work in both news and advertising, but his first course of action is to help other people learn. Above all, he wants to “learn to fish” rather than having others supply the “fish”. That is a natural trait of a continuous learner, and Dale obviously enjoys learning very much. He is also always willing to share his expertise and solve problems locally as our local tech expert. Many are the time he has helped figure out a hair-pulling, mind-boggling computer snafu for us.
Dale led the CB office and its customer base quickly through to the new compact format last year. He was also extremely fast at mastering the editorial software and shared this with others as well including the editor. Dale is currently leading an effort to educate his clients about the LaBelle and Eastern Collier County Sports Networks, and is getting promising results selling advertising sponsorships to them.
Everyone at the CB and other offices as well has benefited from Dale’s knowledge and willingness to share. Dale gets excited learning new things and is eager to put them to practical application to the benefit of our customers and overall operation.
Doug Powell
Driver/Courier
Okeechobee News
Commitment
As circulation assistant based in Okeechobee, Doug Powell has shown a high level of commitment to the Florida circulation effort for a number of years now since coming aboard as a circulation assistant/driver in 2004. Doug’s primary assignments typically focus on single copy collection, but he has well earned a reputation for being willing and able to tackle whatever is needed to get the job done in the circulation department. This can involve a wide variety of challenges including working with home delivery contractors, rack maintenance, local circulation customer service, even filling in for circulation manager Janet Madray. Janet and Doug constitute the entire Florida circulation team since we have moved toward increased use of contractors, and Doug’s positive attitude and commitment help make this possible. Doug is not flashy but sets an example with his hard work and steady approach. Doug has a reputation of taking on a task and working to get it done successfully, or bring others into the process if the problem is “too big”. Doug’s work takes him to all of our markets so he is more than just an “Okeechobee News” employee. Doug’s contributions and consistent work ethic make him a very deserving nominee for an Excellence Award for Commitment.
While a part-timer, Diane makes a big impact on the Okeechobee News editorial team. In the past year, the Okeechobee News has faced budget cuts that meant fewer staffers are left to cover all the bases. Diane handles these challenges with professionalism, dedication and a good sense of humor. She deals with problems as they arise, keeps the work flowing and gets the paper to press on deadline and readily shares creative ideas for improving things. She is a careful proofreader who strives to make sure each story is accurate. She builds pages carefully and efficiently while maintaining standards for page design. Diane is very dependable and can be counted on to make sure the paper gets to press no matter what problems come up.
Not only does Diane handle her copy proofing and page building duties, she also uses her strong tech background to help solve computer problems other staffers come across in their daily work, and helps keep everyone working. She is always friendly and helpful to other team members and contributes to the positive, goal-oriented atmosphere of the newsroom. She willingly adjusts her schedule to accommodate the needs of the paper should there be a special event on the weekend. Diane works collaboratively with others on the news team, coming up with ideas for improving the workflow and for improving the look of the paper. Diane is a worthy nominee for Teamwork.
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