Dan Finnigan Named President of Knight Ridder New Media

Posted on June 28, 1999

Knight Ridder has announced the appointment of Dan Finnigan as president of Knight Ridder New Media and as a vice president of Knight Ridder, effective July 19. He will have responsibility for Knight Ridder's online activities, which include 45 websites, national and local Web sales efforts, software development and content creation. He also will oversee Knight Ridder's investments in CareerPath.com and Classified Ventures.

Since March 1998, Finnigan has served as president and CEO of SBC Interactive, a subsidiary of SBC Communications, Inc., in Pasadena, Calif. He led operating and strategic business development for the company's online information directory and shopping guide service, smartpages and spearheaded the rebranding and launch of www.smartpages.com, an Internet Yellow Pages website. He was also instrumental in the development of The At Hand Network, a nationwide network of Internet Yellow Pages services.

Knight Ridder Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Tony Ridder said, "Dan is smart, knowledgeable, aggressive and competitive. In the variety of jobs he has held, and in the rich new media experiences he has had, he has made the fast-moving space of the Internet his special preserve. He is energized by its challenges and supremely optimistic about its potential. At Knight Ridder New Media, where we are building some of the most sophisticated Web products in the newspaper industry, these skills and perspective will be invaluable. Of necessity, we were very demanding in our search for the right New Media leader. I could not be more pleased that it brought us Dan Finnigan."