Newspaper group picks industry executive for new CEO
Was executive at Guardian News, Washington Post; chosen for prowess in digital media
Newspaper Association of America, Arlington VA, has selected as its new CEO an executive with strong industry credentials, including in digital media.
Caroline H. Little (pictured, left) will take the helm at NAA on Sept. 6. Little succeeds John F. Sturm (right), who led NAA for 16 years. He publicly announced his retirement just weeks ago (see “Executive Moves,” 6/9), though the NAA board already was conducting a search for his successor.
While Little has no professional association management experience, NAA chairman Michael Reed said, “Caroline served for three years as chair of the Online Publishers Association and as a member of the Internet Advertising Bureau. Her leadership in these organizations, along with her deep experience in digital publishing and her extensive legal background, make her uniquely qualified to lead NAA and the industry in the new media landscape.”
Little most recently was CEO, North America of Guardian News and Media Ltd., where from 2008 to 2011 she oversaw US operations, including the digital news media properties guardian.co.uk and ContentNext Media Inc., operators of paidContent.org.
Before that, she was with Washington Post Newsweek Interactive, beginning in 1997 as VP and general counsel. From 2000 to 2004 she was COO, and in her last four years there she was publisher and CEO, leading the division to its first year of profitability.
Little joined the Post company after serving as deputy general counsel for US News & World Report, The Atlantic Monthly and Fast Company. She was also deputy general counsel for Applied Graphics Technologies and for Applied Printing Technologies. She began her career in 1986 as an associate in the DC office of Arnold & Porter.
She is a director at the American Press Institute and The Posse Foundation. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar Association, and the journalism advisory committee of The Knight Foundation. She was chairman of the Online Publishers Association from 2005 to 2008, a board member of the Advertising Bureau from 2005 to 2008, and a member of Google’s Publisher Advisory Council from 2007 to 2008.
She graduated from New York U. law school, and earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Wesleyan U. Executive recruiting firm Blinkhorn, New York, assisted in the search. Details: www.naa.org.
