Gannett Honors Top Employees, Including Manager of the Year and Unsung Heroes

Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI) honored Jim Toellner, president and general manager of WGRZ-TV at Buffalo, NY, as Manager of the Year during the company’s annual Employee Awards Ceremony here today. Gannett’s Manager of the Year award honors top leaders at the company for their management skills, leadership, innovation and business ability. Other finalists for Manager of the Year were: Margaret Buchanan, Interstate Group vice president and president and publisher of The Cincinnati Enquirer; and Patricia Whitehouse, manager of human resources at KUSA/KTVD-TV at Denver.

Rebecca Rahm, program director of KSDK-TV at St. Louis, MO, was honored as Gannett’s Innovator of the Year. Rahm was recognized for her role in Gannett Broadcasting’s successful transition to DTV and the division’s retransmission efforts as well as for being the key point person for all new products and digital products at KSDK-TV at St. Louis, MO. Other finalists for the award were Dan Buettner, IT manager at the Regional Toning Center in Des Moines; and Dona Pickett, promotion specialist at WFMY-TV, Greensboro, NC.

Other awards announced at the reception:

• Asa Darrow, director of Gannett Graphics Group, Gannett Broadcasting, was named Corporate Staffer of the Year. Finalists were: Donna Brenyo, manager/accounting services, Gannett; Rob Mennie, vice president/senior news executive, Gannett Broadcasting.
• Jody Gilbert, account executive III, USA TODAY San Francisco, was named Sales Executive of the Year. Finalists were: Tina Hamilton-Easter, account executive, WUSA-TV, Washington, DC; and Nicole Nichols, account executive, WKYC-TV, Cleveland.
• Rochester (NY) Democrat and Chronicle won the Gannett Diversity Award, which honors the Gannett operating unit that hires, develops, recognizes and rewards a diverse group of employees who achieve outstanding results. Runners-up were: Newspaper Network of Central Ohio; Reno (NV) Gazette-Journal; and The Des Moines Register.
• Bill Fasig, Jr., mailroom manager at The Greenville (SC) News; Bennie Ivory, executive editor/vice president of news at The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY; and Karen Lincoln Michel, assistant managing editor of the Green Bay (WI) Press-Gazette were honored with Leadership and Diversity Individual Awards.

Also honored at the reception were winners of the Gannett 20th annual Unsung Heroes Awards. They are:

• Brian Anderson, technical architect/applications, USA TODAY;
• Amanda Davis, sales and marketing manager at The Courier-Journal, Louisville, KY;
• Carmen Inocencio, benefits and HRIS manager, Tucson (AZ) Newspapers;
• Lubna Rehman, project lead, payment services, Gannett;
• Keith Warren, systems editor, The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, MS.

"Gannett’s employees – with spirit and grace -- are moving this company forward in major ways, even in these tough economic times. These innovative and forward-thinking winners and finalists made significant contributions in 2008. We are deeply appreciative,” said Craig A. Dubow, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Gannett.

Gannett Co., Inc. is an international news and information company operating on multiple platforms including the Internet, mobile, newspapers, magazines and TV stations. Gannett is an Internet leader with hundreds of newspaper and TV Web sites; CareerBuilder.com, the nation’s top employment site; USATODAY.com; and more than 80 local MomsLikeMe.com sites. Gannett publishes 85 daily U.S. newspapers, including USA TODAY, the nation’s largest-selling daily newspaper, and more than 850 magazines and other non-dailies including USA WEEKEND. Gannett also operates 23 television stations in 19 U.S. markets. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom’s second largest regional newspaper company with 17 daily paid-for titles, more than 200 weekly newspapers, magazines and trade publications, and a network of Web sites.