Business News
Communications, Investor Relations Roles Filled at Post-Separation Scripps Companies
Thursday 03. April 2008 - Two veteran corporate communications and investor relations professionals have been named to guide those functions at the two companies that will emerge from the separation of The E. W. Scripps Company later this year.
Timothy A. King, 42, will become vice president of corporate communications and investor relations at The E. W. Scripps Company, which, after the separation, will continue to operate newspapers, broadcast television stations, and a subsidiary that licenses and syndicates comic strips and other creative properties. King succeeds Timothy E. Stautberg, who will become chief financial officer and a senior vice president for the company.
Mark W. Kroeger, 55, will become vice president of corporate communications and investor relations at Scripps Networks Interactive Inc., the new company that will be created in the separation. Scripps Networks Interactive will operate national lifestyle television networks, including HGTV and Food Network, and leading domestic and international Internet businesses.
King and Kroeger will have oversight responsibilities for external media relations, internal communications, community relations and financial communications, including serving as liaisons for the two companies with institutional investors and financial analysts.
“We’re fortunate at Scripps to have a strong enough corporate communications and investor relations bench to be able to fill these important positions from within,” said Kenneth W. Lowe, president and chief executive officer at Scripps. “Tim King and Mark Kroeger are thoroughly versed in the workings of our various media enterprises and bring solid professional credentials to their respective roles.”
Lowe will become chairman and chief executive officer at Scripps Networks Interactive after the separation. Rich Boehne will become president and chief executive officer at The E. W. Scripps Company.
Scripps announced in October 2007 that its board of directors had unanimously authorized management to pursue a separation of Scripps into two publicly traded companies, one focused on national and global brands and the other focused on local media businesses. The separation is expected to be completed by July 1.
King has been director of employee communications for Scripps since 2005. In that capacity he has had oversight responsibility for all of the company’s internal communications, including serving as editor of Scripps News, the company’s employee magazine. King also served as manager of corporate communications at Scripps from 1993 to 1997. He left the company to become director of corporate relations, including investor relations, at Harcourt General Inc. and The Neiman Marcus Group in Boston. Before rejoining Scripps, King served as director of public relations, including financial communications, at Lexmark International Inc. in Lexington, Ky. King has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Kentucky.
Kroeger has been director of corporate communications and investor relations for Scripps since 2001. He joined the corporate office in 1997 as manager of corporate communications and investor relations, coming from the Scripps newspaper in Evansville, Ind. At the Evansville Courier & Press, Kroeger served in newsroom roles of increasing importance, including assistant metropolitan editor, business editor and metropolitan editor. He joined Scripps in 1978 as a general assignment reporter in Evansville. Kroeger has a bachelor’s degree in mass communications from Western Kentucky University and a master’s in business administration with a corporate finance concentration from Xavier University.