Business Wire, December 15, 2005, Thursday

Copyright 2005 Business Wire, Inc.
Business Wire

December 15, 2005 Thursday 3:19 PM GMT

DISTRIBUTION: Business Editors

HEADLINE: The New York Times Announces Promotion of Human Resource and Technology Executives

DATELINE: NEW YORK Dec. 15, 2005

BODY:
The New York Times today announced three promotions at the masthead level. Dennis Stern, vice president of human resources, will take on the newly created position of senior vice president and deputy general manager; Muriel Watkins, the executive director of human resources will succeed him as vice president; and David Thurm, vice president and chief information officer, will be promoted to senior vice president and chief information officer.
The appointments were announced by Scott Heekin-Canedy, president and general manager of The New York Times. They are effective January 1.
In making the announcement, Mr. Heekin-Canedy said, "I am delighted to announce three well-earned promotions at the masthead level. Dennis led our success in transforming our human resources department from transaction processing to sophisticated organizational development. This past year he has also played an invaluable role on special assignment with our effort to find efficiencies to reduce costs and enhance revenue opportunities.
"As executive director, Muriel has done a terrific job of running our human resources department day to day this past year, especially in leading a company-wide effort to implement a rigorous and consistent performance management system.
"This promotion recognizes David's exceptional leadership of our information technology efforts over the past year. He is a man of many talents and leadership qualities and we look forward to his continued excellence and contributions to our bottom line."
In his new position, Mr. Stern will serve as Mr. Heekin-Canedy's deputy, working particularly on process re-engineering performance management to help achieve a culture of growth. He will also oversee the various masthead committees that have responsibility for staffing, diversity, communications, budgets and other critical areas.
From 1981, when he joined The Times, to 1997, Mr. Stern was an editor in the newsroom, serving in the Metropolitan, National and Sunday business departments before becoming associate managing editor for newsroom administration in 1994.
Before joining The Times, he was the metropolitan editor of the former Washington Star. He also worked at the Associated Press, The Milwaukee Journal and The Miami News. He earned a B.A. degree in history from Haverford College in 1969 and a J.D. degree from New York University School of Law in 1972.
Ms. Watkins joined the Times's human resources department as a director in 2001. Previously, she was vice president of human resources and employee communications for NYTimes.com from 1999 to 2001. She served as director of human resources for The New York Times Company's corporate departments for two years before that.
Before joining the Times Company, Ms. Watkins was an associate director of human resources for the Reader's Digest Association's magazine division from 1992 to 1997. She earned a B.B.A. degree in human resources management from Baruch College in 1987 and an M.S. degree in industrial and labor relations from Cornell University in 1993.
Mr. Thurm was named chief information officer for the New York Times Company in 2004. He is responsible for the development and maintenance of business and publishing systems, the data center, the administration of certain business customer service functions and the production of all Times products that are printed by outside vendors. His role also gives him responsibility for all corporate information technology initiatives, and he heads the IT Council, which looks for common solutions to technology issues across the Company.
Since 2000, he has also been vice president for real estate development for the Company. He continues to supervise this area, including the construction of the Company's new headquarters building. He was chief operating officer of NYTimes.com from 1999 to 2000 after having served as vice president of production at The Times newspaper starting in 1995.
Before that he had executive positions in project development and administration, ran production for The Times newspaper, and also served as president of the newspaper's wholesale distributor, City & Suburban Delivery Systems. He joined the company as a lawyer in 1982. He earned an A.B. degree from Harvard University in 1975 and a J.D. degree from New York University School of Law in 1978.
Photos are available at http://www.nytco.com/press-photos.html
The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2004 revenues of $3.3 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers, nine network-affiliated television stations, two New York City radio stations and 35 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. For the fifth consecutive year, the Company was ranked No. 1 in the publishing industry in Fortune's 2005 list of America's Most Admired Companies. The Company's core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.
This press release can be downloaded from www.nytco.com



CONTACT: The New York Times Company Catherine J. Mathis, 212-556-1981 E-mail: mathis@nytimes.com Toby Usnik, 212-556-4425 E-mail: usnikt@nytimes.com

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