Hearst Announces Promotions at Texas Newspapers

John McKeon Named Publisher & President of the Houston Chronicle; Susan Pape Named Chief Operating Officer of the San Antonio Express-News


NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - December 02, 2015) - Hearst today announced promotions at two of its newspapers in Texas. John McKeon has been named publisher and president of the Houston Chronicle and Susan Pape has been named COO of the San Antonio Express-News. The announcement was made by Hearst President and Chief Executive Officer Steven R. Swartz and Hearst Newspapers President Mark Aldam.

McKeon will begin his new role on December 7. In addition to operating responsibility for the Houston Chronicle, he will oversee all collaboration efforts between Hearst's Texas media assets. A successor to McKeon at the San Antonio Express-News will be named in the near future. The Houston Chronicle is one of the country's largest regional media businesses, with a print audience of over 1.8 million readers and 17 million digital visitors to Chron.com, each month.

Pape takes on her new role on December 7, and will continue in her capacities as chief financial officer at the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News.

"Susan and John have proven to be exceptional leaders and innovators within the Hearst Newspapers division," Swartz said. "Both appointments are essential to future growth and partnership across Hearst's papers in Texas."

"Since joining Hearst in 2012, John has led and participated in several groundbreaking initiatives to grow audience, improve revenue and contribute to earnings growth for our Texas newspapers," Aldam said. "We look forward to John's continued influence on the Houston Chronicle as he spearheads collaboration between our two largest Texas media companies."

Most recently, McKeon served as president and publisher of the San Antonio Express-News since 2012. Previously, he held the role of president of The Dallas Morning News from 2007 to 2012, and earlier in his career, he held various leadership roles at Newsday and the Los Angeles Times before joining the corporate team at Knight-Ridder. He received a bachelor's degree from City University of New York City College.

"Susan's years of financial leadership at the Express-News, and more recently expanding to include the Houston Chronicle, have been pivotal to both newspapers' growth and advancement," Aldam said. "Her leadership continuity and deep understanding of our Texas properties make her the ideal person to succeed John and provide operational oversight at the Express-News."

For over a decade, Pape has held various leadership roles at the Express-News. Before joining Hearst, she served as CFO of Harte-Hanks and Belo local television stations in San Antonio. Pape received a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Texas and earned her CPA designation in 1987.

About Hearst Newspapers

Hearst Newspapers is the operating group responsible for Hearst's newspapers, local digital marketing services businesses and directories. With more than 4,000 employees across the nation, Hearst Newspapers publishes 15 dailies and 36 weeklies, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union. It also operates digital marketing services and directories businesses under the LocalEdge brand.

About Hearst

Hearst is one of the nation's largest diversified media, information and services companies with more than 360 businesses. Its major interests include ownership in cable television networks such as A&E, HISTORY, Lifetime and ESPN; majority ownership of global ratings agency Fitch Group; Hearst Health, a group of medical information and services businesses; 30 television stations such as WCVB-TV in Boston and KCRA-TV in Sacramento, Calif., which reach a combined 19 percent of U.S. viewers; newspapers such as the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and Albany Times Union, more than 300 magazines around the world including Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper's BAZAAR and Car and Driver; digital services businesses such as iCrossing and KUBRA; and investments in emerging digital and video companies such as United Artists Media Group, BuzzFeed, VICE and AwesomenessTV. Follow us on Twitter @HearstCorp and subscribe to Hearstlink.

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Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2015/12/2/11G074242/Images/Pape,_Susan-76cc73876f4789fc98f1bdb88130f96d.jpg

Contact Information:

Contacts:

Paul Luthringer
212-649-2540
paul@hearst.com

Sheila O'Shea
212-649-2337
soshea@hearst.com

John C. McKeon Named Publisher & President of the Houston Chronicle Susan Pape Named COO of the San Antonio Express News