Star Tribune's CFO is leaving

Mike Riggs, the Star Tribune's chief financial officer, is leaving the news organization at the end of the month to become senior vice president for Des Moines-based Meredith Corp., which has publications including Better Homes and Gardens and Ladies Home Journal.

"We are happy for him and understand his decision," Star Tribune Publisher Par Ridder said in an announcement to employees Wednesday. Riggs also served as senior vice president for finance and information technology.

"It is truly a great opportunity to join a great company," said Riggs, 39. "It is an opportunity I simply could not pass up."

Riggs joined the Star Tribune in 1996 as a senior financial accountant. He became sales director in interactive media and director of planning for the sales division before becoming CFO in 2006.

Riggs is one of five Star Tribune executives named in a lawsuit brought by the St. Paul Pioneer Press alleging that Ridder brought confidential information with him when he took the publisher's position in Minneapolis and later shared it with some top managers at the Star Tribune. Ridder has acknowledged taking the information but says it was not used to harm the Pioneer Press.

[Source: David Phelps on Star Tribune Online]