3 Times executives to retire - St. Petersburg Times

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3 Times executives to retire

ST. PETERSBURG — Three executives of the St. Petersburg Times will retire under a pension enhancement program the newspaper is using to reduce its payroll.

The three are Philip L. Gailey, editor of editorials and vice president; Jane Peppard, vice president for corporate communications; and Richard Reeves, vice president for sales and marketing.

Gailey, 64, originally from Homer, Ga., began his journalism career at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and went on to work at other newspapers, including the Washington Bureau of the New York Times. Gailey became the St. Petersburg Times Washington Bureau chief in 1987 and editor of editorials in 1991. During his time at the helm, Jeffrey Good won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing.

Asked what he was proudest of during his career at the St. Petersburg Times, Gailey said, "I'm proud of the members of this editorial board who labor mostly in anonymity to make our editorial voice heard in Tampa Bay and in Florida. They are first-rate journalists and thinkers who work for me in the same sense Michelangelo worked for the pope. I'm proud that my first hire was Bill Maxwell, and my second was Robyn Blumner."

Peppard, 62, who grew up in St. Louis, turned a temporary job in the Times' market research department into a career. After arriving in 1977, she rose to become research manager and retail advertising manager, and then spent a decade as publisher of the Times' Tampa edition. "I really wanted the Tampa effort to be successful, and it is," she said.

In 2000, Peppard became director of organizational development and human resources, and then vice president of organizational development in 2004. She is now vice president for corporate communications. Outside the paper, Peppard has been active in the YMCA, United Way, American Red Cross, the Florida Orchestra and the Nonprofit Leadership Center of Tampa Bay.

Reeves, 58, grew up in Gainesville and began working as a full-time advertising sales representative for the Gainesville Sun in 1968 while he attended the University of Florida. He took a similar job with the St. Petersburg Times in 1982 and worked his way up to vice president of sales and marketing in 2005. He later worked as Clearwater advertising division manager and St. Petersburg retail advertising manager. He became advertising director in 1993, and he was named a vice president in 2005.

Reeves said his philosophy has always been showing businesses how the St. Petersburg Times can help them succeed. "We reach more people every day in Tampa Bay than any other single product," he said.

Together, the three executives have roughly 75 years of service at the Times. Under the enhanced pension plan, they will retire by Aug. 31.

"Richard, Jane and Phil have made enormous contributions to the Times. Both personally and professionally, we will miss them very much," said Paul Tash, chairman, CEO and editor of the St. Petersburg Times.

Comments on this article

by Ted	Jul 9, 2008 11:48 AM
I remember when the St Petersburg Times was about St Petersburg. Now is about everything else and very little about St Petersburg. And, why in the world do you pay to put your name on a building in Tampa?

by Ted	Jul 9, 2008 11:48 AM
Where else can you use fake names, write stories that don't have to be totally true ("sounds better that way"), and write editorials without signing your name. Not in the real world.

by Steve	Jul 9, 2008 10:40 AM
Three down and hundreds to go.

by D	Jul 9, 2008 10:37 AM
Paul Tash, where's your early retirement?

by jimmy	Jul 9, 2008 9:00 AM
The leadership at Pravda West might decide to hire a broadminded and qualified candidate to replace Mr Gailey, who was neither. Robyn Blumner is a fine journalist who happens to be on a totally different spectrum than me. Gailey's a southern liberal

by Ed	Jul 9, 2008 8:59 AM
I love how your paper puts SPIN on a layoff/forced retirement. "pension enhancement program the newspaper is using to reduce its payroll". That means we are cutting costs with people. Nice....... Get off your pulpit.

by mike	Jul 9, 2008 8:59 AM
Seems to me Blumner an Company were some of the few shouting that we were going down the wrong path with these war criminals. I'm sure the families who lost people in Iraq would at least think so.

by jon	Jul 9, 2008 8:59 AM
under this group they successfully got rid of the mission statement"To merily tell the truth" with they never did anyway,not 1 story on government out of control and hw we are bankrupt.

by JH	Jul 9, 2008 8:59 AM
What does Phil think about the ACLU defending NAMBLA? Or the fact the ACLU spys on it's own members? What if robyn had to go up against an opposite view every week? The paper cowtows to the auto industry big time. And circulation continues to drop.

by Frankie	Jul 9, 2008 8:59 AM
Well said Ted. I hope all of the complainers on here realize that these retirements portend the fact that local dailies may soon cease to exist. You can have fun spitting into the wind once they're gone.

by DR	Jul 8, 2008 9:44 PM
Anyone who compares Blumner to Michaelangelo is an idiot!!! Go to Windsor castle in GB, look at over 500 of M's renderings - how much of Blumner's scribble will be around in 500 years.?? Maybe Phil can be buried in the Vatican b4 sainthood!!

by Phyllis	Jul 8, 2008 8:27 PM
Can Pope Phil take Robin B with him on the way out? I'm a liberal who loves my Times, but these two have enough arrogance to tilt the Times ship into sinking when this paper really needs to reinvent itself. This def. means the editorial staff too!

by Ed	Jul 8, 2008 6:06 PM
Did I read that right.. In Gailey's quote, he uses an analogy that compares him to the Pope... What an egotistic dunderhead.

by Bill	Jul 8, 2008 5:40 PM
Right on Tom! I also include the hiring of Bill Maxwell who can't discuss the weather without alluding to race. And Gailey has a "mouth" on him as many of us have found out. Good riddance.

by Duane	Jul 8, 2008 5:32 PM
Wow, can understand Bob's problem with Gailey but anyone who has a problem with the ACLU needs to talk to Rush Limbaugh. He certainly had no problems when they defended him. St. Pete Times is a quality product. Go to the Drudge Report, Ted.

by bo	Jul 8, 2008 5:26 PM
kudos to Bennett

by jon	Jul 8, 2008 5:19 PM
Under Gailey & Blumner's reign of dishonesty, every article chosen & written reflects their rabid commitment to shove their far-left agenda down the throats of Times' readers. The Times is going down the tubes solely because of these political hacks!

by Steve	Jul 8, 2008 4:44 PM
I'm sure all of the folks who got laid off are glad they're all retiring under the 'enhanced' pension plan. What's the over-under any of them go to work for Obama?

by Bob	Jul 8, 2008 12:43 PM
Gailey will best be remembered for firing editorial cartoonist Clay Bennett, for the crime of disagreeing with him. Bennett went on to win a Pulitzer Prize elsewhere.

by Tom	Jul 8, 2008 12:42 PM
Regarding Phil Gailey's retirement... Anybody whose proudest moment was to have hired Robyn Blumner, the czarina of the Florida's ACLU -- needed to go anyway. Bye, Phil! :-)

by Ted	Jul 8, 2008 12:41 PM
I guess they wanted to get off the deck of the Titanic.