Steven B. Rossi, formerly a senior executive at Knight Ridder Inc., will take over as Media News Group’s executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Rossi, who most recently served as senior vice president and chief financial officer of Knight Ridder, will replace Gerald E. Grilly, who is retiring.
MediaNews, owner of The Denver Post and more than 200 other daily newspapers, recently acquired the San Jose Mercury News, the Contra Costa Times and a number of smaller papers in California from McClatchy Co.
The newspapers were among 32 that Sacramento, Calif.-based McClatchy acquired when it bought publicly traded Knight Ridder earlier this year.
“Rossi’s proven track record as a results-driven newspaper executive and his extensive knowledge of our California newspaper markets and the newspapers we recently acquired make him an ideal choice to lead ap as it continues its rapid growth,” said William Dean Singleton, Media News’ vice chairman and chief executive.
Rossi will join Singleton and MediaNews president Joseph J. Lodovic IV on the company’s newly formed executive committee.
Rossi, 57, will relocate to Denver from California.
“The top management team wants to grow the company further, move aggressively on the Internet and be excellent at managing the very precious newspaper assets we have,” Rossi said Thursday.
Rossi started his newspaper career as senior vice president and chief financial officer of the Philadelphia Inquirer. He joined the Knight Ridder corporate staff in 1998 and became president of the newspaper division in 2001.
Staff writer Tom McGhee can be reached at 303-820-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com.
