Chairman & Chief Executive Officer


Frank Shepherd

Frank Shepherd is founder, Chairman and CEO of the company. He began his career in 1959 in Port Huron, Michigan working for the Weil family (Federated Publications). He joined Panax Corporation in 1968 and rose to Executive Vice President and COO. When Panax sold their newspaper holdings in 1981 Shepherd purchased Pioneer Publishing Company, move to Houston, Texas where he published historical textbooks. In 1983 he joined Morris Newspaper Corporation working in California and in late 1984 was recruited by the Scripps Howard Newspaper division, rising to Vice President/Newspapers. In 1991 he joined Stauffer Communications of Topeka, Kansas as President and CEO. Stauffer owned 23 daily newspapers, 9 television stations and 4 radio stations as well as an insurance company and Grit Magazine. The Stauffer family merged the company with Morris Communications Co. of Augusta, Georgia in 1995. Shepherd "retired" to his home state of Michigan and formed 21st Century Newspapers with Goldman Sachs and Kelso & Company. They purchased their first newspapers in August of 1997.

President, COO, & CFO


Doug Haensel

Doug Haensel is President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of the company. Mr. Haensel joined 21st Century Newspapers in May of 2001 and since has become an integral part of the company's recent expansion and acquisitions of Heritage Newspapers and Morning Star Publishing Company headquartered in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. He is a native of Wisconsin and joined The General Electric Co. upon graduating from The University of Wisconsin. Rising through various corporate finance management positions within GE and GE Capital and subsequently was selected to lead one of their portfolio companies, the Butler Group in Atlanta, Georgia where he was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. He was then recruited by The Athlete's Foot Company; an Atlanta based international retail company, to serve as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Haensel has a strong background in strategic planning, accounting, treasury and financial reporting. He has worked on and "quarterbacked" many mergers and acquisitions. In his role as COO of 21st Century he is responsibility for the day-to-day activities of our newspaper divisions with the Presidents reporting directly to his office. In addition, Doug handles most of the corporate staff functions and leads our monthly Executive Operating Committee meetings.

Senior Vice President of Newspaper Operations


Bill Williamson

Bill Williamson is Senior Vice President of Newspaper Operations for the company and as such is a vital link to our newspapers, assisting in all operational and production issues. He leads the building, IT, pre-press, press and packaging teams as well as all capital expenditures throughout the company. A native of Vermont and a pressman by trade, Mr. Williamson has worked at various newspaper groups in his 34-year career. Beginning in 1970 at The Bennington Banner in Bennington, Vermont, he joined Rupert Murdock's Houston Community Newspapers in 1978 as Director of Production. He met Shepherd in Houston who later recruited him in 1985 as Production Director for the Evansville Courier, in Evansville, Indiana. In 1991 Bill rose to become Director of Production of Scripps Howard in California and served as project leader; building several new production facilities, including Ventura and San Luis Obispo California as well as a new facility in Evansville, Indiana. Bill is an industry expert in offset and flexo printing and is sought after by other companies to assist in various operational and production issues. He recently was named winner of The Chairman's Award, an award given annually to the person who "exceeds expectations through the spirit of selfless behavior and team play." Bill joined the 21st Century team in October of 1997.

Vice President Human Resources and Legal


Bob Sliwa

Bob Sliwa is a native Michigander and joined the company as Vice President of Human Resources and Legal in October of 2002 and since has become a key player within the executive group. Bob directs all aspects of employee and labor relations, benefits design and administration, compensation programs, employment and management development and legal services. He is a member of the 21st Century Executive Committee and works with all HR managers at the various newspaper divisions. He graduated from Wayne State University and received his MBA and Law Degree from the University of Detroit/Mercy. Prior to returning to Michigan and joining 21st Century, Bob was Vice President of Human Resources for Strategic Industries, an $800 million diversified group of businesses. He also held senior HR positions at Grove Worldwide, General Chemical Corporation, Vickers Inc. and Ford Motor Company. Mr. Sliwa has extensive experience in all aspects of human resources, employee and labor relations, benefit programs and legal services. In his role he also is directing the newly formed "21st Century University" in designing and applying internal training to the various newspaper groups.

Vice President of Finance


Michael White

Mike White is Vice President of Finance for 21st Century Newspapers. He is responsible for working daily with each of our newspapers and their accounting and finance staffs. He promotes best practices, establishes and reviews performance standards, finds efficiencies and works with all group Presidents to improve the entire company. He is the author and architect of our newly formed Shared Services Company, designed and built our "Dashboard" monthly reporting system and implemented meaningful Flash Reports from each group. In addition, he is project leader on the company's annual audit and he works throughout the year with our finance departments to ensure successful preparation. Mike began his career with the public accounting firm Touche Ross, joining them in 1972 after graduating from Bentley College in Massachusetts. In 1975 he was recruited by Knight-Ridder Newspapers in the corporate audit department. In 1978 Mike was promoted within Knight-Ridder to The San Jose Mercury newspaper in San Jose, California as Controller. In 1983 he was recruited by the Guy Gannett Communications Company to join their Portland Newspapers in Portland, Maine. He became CFO and enjoyed ten years working in the Northeast. From 1993 to 1998 Mike worked with Thomson Newspapers in various CFO capacities. He joined Thomson in Altoona, Pennsylvania then was promoted to the newspaper group in Lafayette, Louisiana. In 1998 21st Century recruited him to join the company as CFO of The Daily Oakland Press.

Vice President of Information Technology


Carol Floto

Carol Floto is also a native Michigander and joined our company as Vice President of Information Technology in 2002. She is responsible for managing and coordinating all company systems and support while improving present operations and planning for future growth. Carol has tackled some real large and key strategic issues the company was facing when she joined the company and is leading these vial projects to successful conclusions. Prior to joining us all our IT efforts were individually manage at the various newspapers. Her first priority was to consolidate these far-flung endeavors and collapse them into a cohesive unit. Once that was accomplished Carol and her team have been tackling various projects with vigor. A 1992 graduated of Michigan State University she joined C-Text, Inc. in Ann Arbor, Michigan. From 1995 until 2001 Carol worked for Thomson Newspapers in their IT departments as system manager in Cumberland, Maryland; Director of Technology of the West Virginia Strategic Group, Director of Technology of the Winnebago Strategic Group and Vice President of Technology for Appleton, Wisconsin. In 2001 Carol joined The Tribune Company in Chicago where she was project manager in the technical group and was Director of Help Desk and Computer Services. She was recruited by us in May of 2002 to become VP/IT at the corporate level.

21st Century Controller


Tim Thiry

Tim Thiry, our Controller, first joined 21st Century Newspapers in June 1997 as Assistant Controller with Independent Newspapers. His responsibilities as Controller include preparation of consolidated financial statements, treasury, tax compliance and financial systems management. Prior to joining 21st Century he held financial positions in manufacturing and educational industries, most recently as Controller for Chivas Products.

President and Publisher of Heritage Newspapers


Jim Williams

Jim Williams is President and Publisher of Heritage Newspapers Inc. Jim began his newspaper career in 1982 at Alliance, Ohio working for The Review, as a mailroom employee and eventually working his way into the advertising department where he served in numerous roles including outside sales representative and National sales manager. Jim then became the classified manager for The Canton, Ohio Free Press where he helped in the development of an Alliance area edition. Following his stint in Canton, Jim joined the Massillon, Ohio Independent as a Classified Automotive salesperson and later Classified Sales Manager, 4 years later; Jim joined Landon Associates as a District Sales Manager responsible for National advertising sales for the Greater Cleveland Newspaper Network as well as, 26 other daily newspapers in northeastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and southwestern New York. Jim's next assignment came with Thomson newspapers as Advertising Director of the Salem News in Salem, Ohio, 2 years later Jim found himself transferred to Canton, Ohio to The Repository as Retail Advertising Manager. Three years later Jim was employed as Advertising Director at The New Philadelphia, Ohio Times-Reporter. The next move came 4 years later and took Jim and his family to Upstate New York where Jim served as Publisher of The Record, in Troy, NY. Jim was transferred by Journal Register Co. to his current position in February 2004. Jim is the past chairman of the Southwestern Wayne county Chamber of Commerce and is currently a board member of its executive committee. Jim also serves as a board member of SNA (Suburban Newspapers of America) and as a board member of the Metropolitan Detroit YMCA.

President of Greater Detroit Newspaper Network


Joani Dittrich

Joani Dittrich joined 21st Century Newspapers as Vice-President of Sales for The Greater Detroit Newspaper Network (GDNN) in the summer of 2003 and was promoted to President of GDNN on January 5th of this year. She is responsible for all major, national and regional advertising accounts; heading a 20 person staff which includes marketing and research for the Detroit region. In addition Ms. Dittrich is Chairman of the Sales and Marketing Committee of the company. She began her advertising career in 1977 at the Granite City Journal, Granite City, Illinois, as an advertising sales representative. She won numerous sales awards and was quickly promoted to Promotions Manager in 1979. In 1981 she was recruited by The Belleville News Democrat, Belleville, Illinois in the sales department and rose to General Manager of the newspaper in 1983. The Pulitzer owned St. Louis Post Dispatch came calling in early 1985 and she joined them as an advertising salesperson, specializing in electronics and appliance retailers. Following a highly successful selling career in St. Louis Joani was recruited in 1987 by Silo/Tipton Electronics, Inc. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as their Advertising Director. She managed a corporate staff of 32 members, handling a $75 million annual budget and all advertising and promotions for a 235 national chain of stores in 36 markets. Strategic Print Marketing (A division of NSA in Chicago) recruited Joani in 1994 to become Team Leader of the Kmart account where she participated at the highest levels in planning and developing print media programs. In October of 1998 Ms. Dittrich returned to Pulitzer's St. Louis Post Dispatch as Director of Major Accounts and National Advertising Sales. She consistently increased major account sales which exceeded $100 million annually and was the team leader in coordinating the efforts in consolidating The Suburban Journals major account group with the Post Dispatches major account group; forming the St. Louis Advertising Network, which she headed as it's Director. 21st Century Newspapers recruited her to join GDNN in August of 2003 where she rose to President in January. Joani is a member of the company's Executive Committee.

President of The Morning Star Publishing Company and The Lapeer Group


Bill McHugh

Bill McHugh is the President of the Morning Star Publishing Company and the Lapeer Group. He also serves his group as Publisher of the Morning Sun, a daily newspaper in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. McHugh joined the company when it purchased Brill Media in August 2002. Mr. McHugh began his career at The Miami Herald, a Knight -Ridder Newspaper, in the composing room. After graduating from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, Knight-Ridder promoted Bill in 1979 to The Philadelphia Inquirer and Bulletin in their circulation development department. In 1986 he was promoted again to Circulation Manager of The St. Paul Pioneer Press, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Bill returned in 1988 to become Vice President/Circulation of The Philadelphia Daily News and in 1989 he was promoted again to Vice President and Business Manager of The Daily News. In 1991 Bill had the entrepreneurship itch and started his own business, the Philadelphia Metro Distributorship. After a successful business career he and a partner purchased and operated Ledger Newspapers of suburban Philadelphia where Bill served as Publisher. In late 1999 Bill was recruited by Brill Media of Evansville, Indiana to become President of the Mt. Pleasant, Michigan Morning Sun Newspapers. He began his new position as President and Publisher of Morning Star Publishing Company when 21st Century purchased the company from Brill Media in August of 2002. Bill is a native of Chicago but was raised in Miami, Florida where his mother worked as executive assistant to Alva Chapman, CEO of Knight-Ridder. McHugh brings a wealth of knowledge and experience as an owner of newspapers and a top executive of Knight-Ridder.

Detroit Metro Group Team

Vice President of Operations Detroit Metro Group*


Pat Eagan

Patrick Eagan is Vice President of Operations of the "Detroit Metro Group" (Independent Newspapers Inc. (The Macomb Daily, The Daily Tribune, & The Advisor /Source), The Oakland Press, Heritage Newspapers and ADS). Eagan is responsible for managing and coordinating all operations procedures/reporting functions and all newsprint orders for the "Detroit Metro Group". Eagan has 23 years of experience at Independent Newspapers Inc. (INI), starting off his career in 1978 as a Vehicle Mechanic for The Macomb Daily. Other positions held at INI were Press Electrical / Mechanical Superintendent, Production Manager and Press Operations Director.

* The Detroit Metro Group consists of: Independent Newspapers Inc. (INI), The Macomb Daily, The Daily Tribune, & The Advisor /Source, The Oakland Press, Heritage Newspapers and ADS.

Northern Group Team

Vice President of Operations Northern Group*


Paul Gunderson

Paul Gunderson is Vice President of Operations of the "Northern Group" (Morning Star Publishing Company and the Lapeer County Press Publications). Gunderson is responsible for managing and coordinating all operations procedures/reporting functions and scheduling all commercial printing for the "Northern Group". Gunderson has over 20 years of experience at Morning Star Publishing Company.

* The Northern Group consists of: Morning Star Publishing Company and the Lapeer County Press Publications.