Chicago Tribune Names Tony Hunter and Owen Youngman Senior Vice Presidents

CHICAGO, March 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Chicago Tribune announced today that Tony Hunter, vice president/operations of Chicago Tribune since 2003, has been named senior vice president/circulation and operations. Hunter assumes the responsibilities of Tim Ryan who was named president, publisher and chief executive officer of The Baltimore Sun Company yesterday. Owen Youngman, vice president of development since 2000, has been named senior vice president/strategy and development.

"Tony and Owen are both extremely talented executives with great Tribune experience," said Scott Smith, Chicago Tribune president and publisher and Tribune Publishing president. "With these increased responsibilities, they will play key roles in advancing our initiatives to improve and grow how we serve Chicagoland."

During Hunter's tenure as vice president/operations, he has overseen the implementation of two major investments to increase color printing capacity and preprint advertising targeting. He joined Chicago Tribune in 1994 and has held a several management positions in circulation, including director/consumer sales and service. Prior to joining the newspaper, Hunter worked for the Audit Bureau of Circulations from 1984 to 1994, serving as director, field auditing -- newspapers.

As senior vice president/strategy and development, Owen Youngman will add the RedEye edition to his responsibilities. He will continue to oversee Chicago Tribune's other rapidly growing businesses -- Chicago Tribune Interactive, Chicagoland Publishing, Hoy and CLTV -- along with strategic planning and community relations.

In his previous role, Youngman has overseen a broad range of development activities, including the launch of RedEye, the acquisition of Chicago magazine, as well as the growth of Chicago Tribune's interactive and targeted publication businesses.

He began his career at Chicago Tribune in 1971 as a copy boy on the weekend night shift. Between 1979 and 1995, he held a variety of editorial management positions, including associate managing editor/financial news and managing editor/features. Youngman served as the newspaper's first director of interactive media from 1995 to 1999, creating and launching a variety of award-winning Web sites including chicagotribune.com and metromix.com.

About Chicago Tribune

Chicago Tribune Company publishes the Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper with daily readership of about 1.8 million and about 2.6 million on Sunday. The company also operates related print and interactive media serving Chicagoland. Chicago Tribune is the founding publication of Tribune Company , one of the country's leading media companies, operating businesses in broadcasting, publishing and on the Internet.