Gary Pruitt named NAA president

Washington – Gary Pruitt, chairman, president and chief executive officer of The McClatchy Co. in Sacramento, Calif., has been elected to serve as the Newspaper Association of America’s next chairman. The gavel was passed to Pruitt from last year’s chairwoman Susan Clark-Johnson, president of the Newspaper Division of Gannett Co. in McLean, Va., during the Association’s Capital Conference held April 12-16 in Washington, D.C. Clark-Johnson will continue to serve on the NAA Board of Directors as immediate past chairperson.

Gary Pruitt assumed the role of McClatchy Co. chairman in 2001. He has been chief executive officer since 1996 and president since 1995, the year he also became a director. He served as chief operating officer from 1995 to 1996 and as vice president, operations and technology from 1994 to 1995. Before that, Mr. Pruitt was publisher of The Fresno Bee from 1991 to 1994, served as corporate secretary and general counsel from 1987 to 1991 and was counsel from 1984 to 1987. He currently serves as a director of The Associated Press and The James Irvine Foundation.

Other officers elected were: Michael E. Reed, president and CEO of GateHouse Media Inc. in Fairport, N.Y., as treasurer; George B. Irish, president, Hearst Newspapers, a subsidiary of The Hearst Corp. in New York City, as vice chairman; and Mark G. Contreras, senior vice president/newspapers for The E.W. Scripps Co. in Cincinnati, as secretary.

Elected to two-year terms on the NAA Board of Directors were: Stephen Hills, president and general manager, The Washington Post; Carol Hudler, president and publisher, The News-Gazette, Fort Myers, Fla., and group president of Gannett Co.’s Sun Coast Newspaper Group; and Michael R. Romaner, president of Morris DigitalWorks, a subsidiary of Morris Communications Co. in Augusta, Ga.