The company also shifted Jay Fogarty to VP of strategy and innovation from VP of new revenue platforms.

“We are very excited to announce … Peter’s appointment [which] comes as we are moving from a successful diligence phase in some of our new ventures to an execution phase, a period in which we begin to scale our new businesses,” said Kirk Davis, GateHouse COO.

Newton spent 17 years at The Boston Globe, including finance and advertising positions. He was president of BostonWorks, the Globe’s print-and-online recruitment program before the paper became a Monster.com affiliate. Newton later joined Monster.com, serving as SVP and GM of small and mid-sized businesses and heading Monster Media Alliance, which grew to more than 350 affiliates. He also worked as VP for bizdev at Helium.com, a content farm, and ran his own consultancy, Big Rock Consulting Group, for about two years.

The announcement is here.

In a very brief press note Ringier (here in English) explained that Tobias Schulz-Isenbeck leaves “due to the reorganization at the management head.” A company spokesman pointed out that retirement had nothing to do with the weaker financial results of Ringier and that there are no further changes planned in the management of the company.

The 44-years-old Schulz-Isenbeck had just switched from the leading German newspaper group Verlagsgruppe Handelsblatt last September, where he also had been CFO and speaker chairman. New interim CFO is Annabella Bassler, until now head of Corporate Finance & Controlling at the Ringier Holding. The new CEO Marc Walder expressed the wish that Tobias Schulz-Isenbeck would continue to support the company as a consultant.

In 2011 Ringier achieved 9 per cent lower revenues of CHF 1.15 billion, with a decrease of the company´s EBITDA of 44 per cent to CHF 64 million and a reduction of net profits to CHF 22.8 million (CHF 61.7 million in 2010).

Millstein, 52, has been active in a number of newspaper initiatives and partnerships, including the Newspaper Consortium; newspaper alliances with Monster.com; Find n Save, the shopping site created out of the Travidia business, and QuadrantOne, the display-ad exchange owned by Hearst and three other media companies.

Before joining Hearst in 2005, Millstein spent five years as EVP of New York Times Digital. He helped launch Boston.com in 1995. Earlier in his career, he was a reporter and editor at The Boston Globe and The Hartford (Conn.) Courant.

Hearst publishes 15 daily and 37 weekly newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, San Antonio (Texas) Express-News and Albany (N.Y.) Times-Union.

Here’s the news release.

Bob Bemis

Bob Bemis, executive director of the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service in Phoenix, and the driving force behind the Dot-MLS project of the MLS Domains Association, has just been named VP of partner relations for Zillow. He’ll be relocating to Seattle. We have to wonder what that means for the future of the dot-MLS project, and what Zillow’s role with that might be. We’ve asked for a conversation. 

Here’s the announcement: 

Robert Bemis Joins Zillow as Vice President of Partner Relations

Veteran real estate industry executive to help develop and strengthen industry partnerships

SEATTLE, Feb. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Zillow, Inc. (NASDAQ: Z), the leading real estate information marketplace, today announced real estate industry veteran Robert (Bob) D. Bemis is joining Zillow® as the company’s vice president of partner relations. Bemis brings nearly 25 years of experience in the real estate industry and will be responsible for creating new partner relationships with real estate brokers, agents and multiple listings services (MLSs). Most recently, Bemis was chief executive officer of Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service, Inc. (ARMLS), one of the largest and most influential MLSs in the nation.

The addition of Bemis to the Zillow team, combined with the acquisition of Diverse Solutions™ in November 2011, advances Zillow’s goal of helping real estate agents grow and market their business.

“We are honored to have one of the most esteemed and well respected executives in the real estate industry join our team. Bob’s deep industry knowledge will help Zillow engage with brokerages and MLSs in a mutually beneficial way,” said Spencer Rascoff, Zillow CEO. “Bob’s role will benefit the entire industry by bringing better communication and cooperation as well as help improve Zillow’s product development initiatives.”

“I am looking forward to the challenge of building bridges to Zillow’s current and potential partners in the industry, including MLSs, Associations of REALTORS®, brokers, agents, appraisers, title companies, mortgage lenders and other service providers. I intend to foster a spirit of cooperation that has sometimes been missing in the dialog between licensed practitioners, their support organizations and the rest of the industry,” said Bemis.  “This is a very exciting opportunity to make a major contribution to the continuing success of an industry that I have been a part of for nearly 25 years.”

Bemis joined ARMLS as CEO in October 2007, and immediately began an aggressive program of expanding the product options and raising the quality of customer service and support offered to ARMLS’s nearly 30,000 real estate agent practitioners. He is a regular participant on national panels and forums dealing with real estate issues and serves on the National Association of REALTORS^® MLS Issues and Policy Committee. Bemis also serves as a director on the board of the Council of Multiple Listing Services and is the interim president of the MLS Domains Association, an organization seeking to acquire the Dot.MLS top level domain for exclusive use by MLS systems. He was named one of the 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders by Inman News® in 2011.

Prior to ARMLS, Bemis was vice president of customer care for Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, the nation’s largest MLS system. He also was director of marketing and product management for Interealty Inc., a leading provider of information technologies and MLS systems to the real estate industry, which was acquired by CoreLogic®. Past real estate industry positions include director of information services for the Chicago Association of REALTORS^® Multiple Listing Service and a real estate sales agent with Coldwell Banker® in Glenview, Ill.

A Midwest native, Bemis has a Bachelor of Arts in Speech and Communications from The Ohio State University. Before his real estate career, he spent 20 years in the television broadcasting industry, managing broadcast station operations in Columbus and Cincinnati, and studio and mobile production companies in Indianapolis and Chicago. Among his major accomplishments, he counts a regional Emmy® award for excellence in television directing from the Midwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television and Arts and Sciences.

Bemis and his wife will relocate to the Pacific Northwest and be based at Zillow’s headquarters in Seattle.

About Zillow, Inc.

Zillow (NASDAQ: Z) is the leading real estate information marketplace, providing vital information about homes, real estate listings and mortgages through its website and mobile applications, enabling homeowners, buyers, sellers and renters to connect with real estate and mortgage professionals best suited to meet their needs. More than 30 million unique users visited Zillow’s websites and mobile applications in January 2012. Zillow, Inc. operates Zillow.com®, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace,Zillow Mobile, Postlets® and Diverse Solutions™. The company is headquartered in Seattle.

The Zillow logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=10012

Zillow.com, Zillow and Postlets are registered trademarks of Zillow, Inc. Diverse Solutions is a trademark of Zillow, Inc.

REALTORS is a registered trademark of the National Association of REALTORS.

Inman News is a registered trademark of Inman Group, Inc.

CoreLogic is a registered trademark of First American CoreLogic, Inc.

Emmy is a registered trademark of The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Coldwell Banker is a registered trademark of Coldwell Banker Real Estate, LLC.

(ZFIN)

SOURCE Zillow, Inc.

“I’m pleased to announce that the vision I’ve pursued at Amped Market Place Inc. to help digital media companies amplify their recruitment business is being “AMPed” through a partnership with RealMatch, Inc….The interests of AMP have merged with RealMatch and I have joined them as their Chief Revenue Officer.”

… whatever that means. Good grief. And we’ve tried calling him a couple of times without success.

Baker served as VP at Hire.com before he joined Adicio. He’s also worked with Madgex, a UK-based competitor to Adicio and RealMatch. He started Amped in August 2010; it’s not clear whether he’s shutting it down, incorporating it into his work with RealMatch, or planning to operate it as a separate company.

For more on what each firm offers for hiring managers, publishers and candidates, read the AIM Group’s Recruitment advertising 2012: “Social 2.0″ (CIR 12.23, Dec. 15, 2011) 

Here are the winners and nominated finalists, in the classifieds categories:

Best Classified Website with 1 million unique monthly visitors and over

Oodle

Deseret Digital Media - WINNER!

Legacy.com

The Boston Globe

PennySaverUSA.com

Best Classified Website with 250,000 to 1 million unique monthly visitors

USA4SALE

UsedEverywhere.com - WINNER!

Best Classified Website with under 250,000 unique monthly visitors

Adicio / CareerCast - WINNER!

Ranger Data Technologies

In this 16th annual contest, each EPPY™ entry is judged on its own merits within a particular category. Finalists must receive a score in the top one third of the average score across all categories within their division (1 million and over unique monthly visitors; 250,000 to 1 million unique monthly visitors; or under 250,000 unique monthly visitors).  See all winners on the Editor & Publisher site. 

By Sharon Hill
The Denver Post, a MediaNews Group newspaper, has just reported new executives for Digital First Media. Back in September we reported the launch of the new Digital First Media that jointly manages Journal Register Company and MediaNews Group, with John Paton at the helm as CEO.

The new leaders are:

www.bigtex.com

Here’s the news release: 

Cars.com and PickupTrucks.com Turn Texans Into “Textans” at the State Fair of Texas

CHICAGO, Sept. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Cars.com, the premiere online resource for buying and selling cars, in partnership with PickupTrucks.com, an authoritative site for pickup truck news and reviews, today announced that Texans get to be the critics in the sites’ “Truck of the Fair” competition at the upcoming State Fair of Texas. To participate, fairgoers can text their vote to 35350 after seeing all the new models in the fair’s Truck Zone.

“As editor of PickupTrucks.com, I get a chance to share my thoughts on new trucks through reviews and articles on our website,” says site editor, Mark Williams. “But what’s special about our Truck of the Fair competition is that gives the actual buyers and enthusiasts a chance to make their voices heard and crown one truck their favorite.”

“The Texas State Fair houses the largest pickup truck show in the country for the largest population of pickup truck enthusiasts in the country,” says Williams. “Manufacturers will be bringing all of their best-selling models to try to impress this tough crowd but to win the crown, they’re going to have to show some of the smartest truck buyers in the country something very special.”

Last year, the 2011 Ford F-350 Lariat won the PickupTrucks.com/Cars.com Truck of the Fair competition. In 2009, the 2010 Ford F-150 took home the crown.

“Ford has dominated among voters since we started our competition,” says Williams. “This year, they’ll face some tough competition as manufacturers continue to roll out better trucks with more standard features than ever before.”

Voting for “Truck of the Fair” begins on September 30th and runs through October 23rd.

ABOUT CARS.COM AND PICKUPTRUCKS.COM

Cars.com was recently named the “Best Overall Customer Experience” by Keynote Systems, the leader in Internet and mobile cloud marketing. Cars.com is an online destination for car shoppers that offers information from consumers and experts to help buyers formulate opinions on what to buy, where to buy and how much to pay for a car. PickupTrucks.com, part of the Cars.com brand is dedicated to the distinct needs of pickup truck buyers and owners. Both sites offer thousands of new and used vehicle listings, consumer reviews, side-by-side comparison tools, photo galleries, videos, unbiased editorial content and many other tools. Cars.com and PickupTrucks.com put millions of car buyers in control of their shopping process with the information they need to make confident buying decisions.

Launched in June 1998, Cars.com is a division of Classified Ventures, LLC, which is owned by leading media companies, including Belo (NYSE: BLC), Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), Tribune Company and The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO).

SOURCE Cars.com

Yahoo! Announces Leadership Reorganization

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), the premier digital media company, today announced a leadership reorganization under which the Board of Directors has appointed Timothy Morse interim Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately, replacing Carol Bartz, who has been removed by the Board from her role as Chief Executive Officer.

The Board has also named key senior Yahoo! executives to a newly formed Executive Leadership Council tasked with supporting Morse in managing the Company’s day-to-day operations until a permanent chief executive is appointed, as well as supporting a comprehensive strategic review that the Board has initiated to position the Company for future growth. 

Roy Bostock, Chairman of the Yahoo! Board, said, “The Board sees enormous growth opportunities on which Yahoo! can capitalize, and our primary objective is to leverage the Company’s leadership and current business assets and platforms to execute against these opportunities. We have talented teams and tremendous resources behind them and intend to return the Company to a path of robust growth and industry-leading innovation. We are committed to exploring and evaluating possibilities and opportunities that will put Yahoo! on a trajectory for growth and innovation and deliver value to shareholders.”

Bostock continued, “On behalf of the entire Board, I want to thank Carol for her service to Yahoo! during a critical time of transition in the Company’s history, and against a very challenging macro-economic backdrop. I would also like to express the Board’s appreciation to Tim and thank him for accepting this important role. We have great confidence in his abilities and in those of the other executives who have been named to the Executive Leadership Council.”

In addition to Morse, who will also continue in his role as Chief Financial Officer of Yahoo!, the Executive Leadership Council will consist of Michael Callahan, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary; Blake Irving, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer; Ross Levinsohn, Executive Vice President, Americas; Rich Riley, Senior Vice President & MD, EMEA Region; and Rose Tsou, Senior Vice President, APAC Region. The Co-founders of Yahoo!, David Filo and Jerry Yang, will each continue as Chief Yahoo and will provide counsel to Tim and the Executive Leadership Council.

“It is an honor to be selected for this role and lead the Company with this world-class team of executives. I look forward to working with the Executive Leadership Council and the talented employees of Yahoo!, and to partnering with the Board to invest in the organization and continue to drive its ongoing growth plans,” said Tim Morse, Interim Chief Executive Officer.

The Board is commencing a search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer and expects to engage the services of a nationally recognized executive search firm to help it identify candidates for the position as expeditiously as possible.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! is the premier digital media company, creating deeply personal digital experiences that keep more than half a billion people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the globe. And Yahoo!’s unique combination of Science + Art + Scale connects advertisers to the consumers who build their businesses. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the company’s blog, Yodel Anecdotal (yodel.yahoo.com).

This press release contains forward-looking statements (including without limitation the quotations from our Chairman and management) concerning Yahoo!’s future management, strategic plans, growth opportunities and performance. Risks and uncertainties may cause actual results to differ materially from the results predicted. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, the impact of management and organizational changes; the implementation and results of any strategic plans as well as Yahoo!’s ongoing strategic and cost initiatives; Yahoo!’s ability to compete with new or existing competitors; reduction in spending by, or loss of, advertising customers; the demand by customers for Yahoo!’s premium services; interruptions or delays in the provision of Yahoo!’s services; security breaches; acceptance by users of new products and services; risks related to joint ventures and the integration of acquisitions; risks related to Yahoo!’s international operations; failure to manage growth and diversification; adverse results in litigation, including intellectual property infringement claims and recent derivative and class actions related to Alipay; Yahoo!’s ability to protect its intellectual property and the value of its brands; dependence on key personnel; dependence on third parties for technology, services, content, and distribution; general economic conditions and changes in economic conditions; transition and implementation risks associated with the Search Agreement with Microsoft Corporation; and risks that the benefits of the Framework Agreement Yahoo! entered into with Alibaba Group, Softbank Corporation and certain other parties regarding Alipay may not be realized. All information set forth in this press release and its attachments is as of September 6, 2011. Yahoo! does not intend, and undertakes no duty, to update this information to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. More information about potential factors that could affect Yahoo!’s business and financial results is included under the captions “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Yahoo!’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2010, and the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2011, which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.

Yahoo! is the trademark and/or registered trademark of Yahoo! Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

NCI, which publishes hundreds of real estate rack-and-stack publications, along with several online real estate products, has an opening at the top. The company is conducting a national search to replace CEO Dan McCarthy, who resigned after nine years.

Atlanta-area-based NCI publishes Apartment Finder and The Real Estate Book and their companion websites; several high-end home-and-lifestyle guides, and Digital Sherpa. It’s represented in more than 500 U.S. markets, and calls itself “a leading local media company providing lead generation, advertising and Internet marketing services to the housing industry.” It distributes more than 9.4 million print classified guides monthly and reaches a reported 2 million unique users monthly.

Fulton Collins is serving as interim CEO; Gerry Parker, who was CFO, became president as well. McCarthy will remain on the board of directors. Collins said NCI (formally Network Communications Inc.) would retain an outside search firm to find a permanent CEO. (We’ve called and ask for the name of that search firm — it might help you to know that — but they haven’t called us back.)

“While the Board believes in the strength and ability of current management, it also believes that the search for new leadership should be managed in a prudent and systematic fashion,” Collins said in the news release. “The search firm will be directed to consider internal and external candidates for the position.”

     So it probably comes as no surprise that Rebecca Bradner, the CAD at the Las Vegas Review-Journal, has pulled the plug.

     Bradner, who was class-ad director at The Hartford Courant (owned by Tribune) and at Tucson (Ariz.) Newspapers before she joined the R-J, sent a note to friends saying that she had resigned after “a challenging year.” (Talk about understatement!) Her LinkedIn profile says merely, “No longer at the Review-Journal … . Thinking about my options.”

     Even though the Vegas economy is dismal, Bradner had some successes at the R-J. During the boom times, of course, real estate and hiring were strong in Las Vegas, and her classifieds department capitalized on those good years; more recently, she and recruitment advertising manager Chelle Bize developed a series of niche online job sites focusing heavily on employer videos. With a series of URLs like LVCasinoJobs.com, LVHospitalityJobs.com and LVRNJobs.com (for registered nurses), Bradner and Bize innovated like crazy trying to keep an abysmal situation from being even worse.

     What’s up next? She doesn’t know yet. But you can probably reach her through LinkedIn. Or through us. (Just don’t use the R-J address that’s still on her LinkedIn page.) Maybe she’ll even make it to the Western Classified Advertising Association conference in San Diego next month; she’s long been a leader at WCAA. Sounds like something she might do even if she has to pay for it out of her own pocket.

Bellack worked with Classified Ventures from July 1997 through November 2003, as general manager / SVP of real estate and CFO of the company. His LinkedIn profile says he was a CV cofounder who helped raise the $50 million initial investment in Classified Ventures and then raised another $350 in follow-on investments. More recently, Bellack spent two years as cofounder and CEO of Zetabid.com, an online real estate auction site focused on short sale and foreclosure properties.

Bellack was chief digital officer of the Los Angeles Times Digital Media group for almost five years, from 2004 through 2008, and he also oversaw the L.A. Times online and print classified advertising businesses. L.A. Times Interactive represented 40 percent of all Tribune Interactive revenues. From 1994-1994, he was VP / GM of Tribune Direct, and then joined Compton’s New Media. 

Bellack, who will report to Newegg CEO S.C. Lee, has an MBA from Northwestern University and a BS in accountancy from DePaul University. He’s a certified public accountant in Illinois.

Newegg describes itself in the news release as “the second-largest online-only retailer in the United States.” We’re not sure about that, but we do know that it used to be the go-to spot for the best bargains in technology. We spent a lot of money there! (Haven’t bought too many new tech toys lately, so don’t know if it’s still the bargain heaven it once was.)

Dalton launched his career at Harte-Hanks  in 1987. Over the years, he has held sales management, marketing and business management positions, and was named president of the Northern California shoppers operation in 1996, and then president of PennySaverUSA.com and TheFlyer.com in 2006

          Morgan, who lists himself on his LinkedIn profile as a “visionary sales executive, leader and team builder,” started at Gabriels a few weeks ago. He’s based at their offices in New York.

          Before joining Gabriels, he was chief advertising officer at North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record in Hackensack, the Herald News in Passaic County and nine community publications. Previously, Morgan worked as an advertising director for Gannett and spent eight years on the West Coast working for Pacific Sierra Publishing in Merced, Calif., and Sound Publishing in Kitsap, Wash.

His appointment was announced today.

Silver held “lots of different vice-presidencies” at Tribune Co. and has an MBA from Stanford and an MS in journalism from Columbia University. He started his career as a reporter at the Miami Herald, and spent almost four years as a reporter at The Orlando Sentinel before moving into television at a Miami public television station. He was with Tribune from 1985 through 2007 and joined the Newspaper Consortium in August of 2008.

“The Knight Lab presents a unique opportunity to foster innovation through technologies with appeal to traditional news providers as well as the many new voices that are shaping the way we keep up with news today,” Silver said in the news release.

The lab, described as “the first of its kind” by Northwestern, will bring together journalists and computer scientists “to improve the news and information people use to understand their communities and run their lives.” Rich Gordon, who like Silver also worked at the Miami Herald, is a professor and director of digital innovation at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and has long been trying to get journalists and computer scientists to work together.

“Mike’s depth of experience in digital technologies, publishing, news and media is exactly what we need to move the Knight Lab forward,“ said Kristian J. Hammond, director of the Medill-McCormick Center for Innovation in Technology, Media and Journalism. “With him at the helm we are set to transform a set of exciting possibilities into a brilliant reality.”

Oh, about that small start-up, Quantum? It later became AOL, and Tribune’s investment of $5 million for a 9 percent stake was worth more than $1.5 billion at one point.

Publishing executive brings combination of digital, legal and association experience to the leading trade association for newspapers

Arlington, Va. – NAA today announced that its board of directors has appointed Caroline H. Little – a seasoned newspaper executive who has led innovative digital publishing companies –to serve as the association’s president and CEO, effective Sept. 6, 2011. Little succeeds John F. Sturm who led the association for 16 years and previously announced his retirement.