Business News

John Fry to Succeed Tim Bowdler as Chief Executive

Thursday 25. September 2008 - The Board of Johnston Press announces that it has signed a contract with John Fry to become the new Chief Executive of Johnston Press with effect from 5 January 2009.

John is currently Chief Executive of the Norwich based regional media group, Archant. He has held this position since 2002.

Prior to moving into the regional media sector, John was for nine years President of the information company Dun & Bradstreet for UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa, after four years as a consultant with Bain & Company. He started his career with Procter & Gamble. John is a graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge (MA Physics and Mathematics). He also holds an MBA from INSEAD where he won the Ford Prize for the top student in his year.

John will take over from the current Chief Executive, Tim Bowdler, who is retiring in 2009 (as previously announced). Tim was appointed Chief Executive of Johnston Press in 1997 having joined the Company in 1994 when he became Group Managing Director.

Roger Parry, Chairman of Johnston Press, comments:

‘We are delighted to appoint John as new CEO. The Board started the recruitment process many months ago and we have seen a large number of candidates from both inside and outside the regional media industry. John has done a tremendous job at Archant and has exciting plans for developing regional media. The whole Johnston team looks forward to working with him. ‘

John Fry comments:

‘I am extremely excited to be joining Johnston Press and relish the opportunity to build on the success of Tim Bowdler and his team. The company has a strong local media franchise covering large parts of the UK and Ireland which I look forward to developing in both print and digital formats’

Tim Bowdler, Chief Executive of Johnston Press, comments:

‘I am delighted that the Board has appointed John Fry as my successor. Since John arrived at Archant in 2002 I have greatly admired his abilities and achievements. He is ideally equipped to be the next Chief Executive of Johnston Press and it will be a pleasure to hand over the reins to someone for whom I have such a high regard.’