Gannett Newspaper Division Announces Executive Appointments

Posted on January 5, 2000

Gannett has announced three executive appointments in the Newspaper Division. Gary M. Suisman becomes president and publisher of the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, Ind. He previously was president and publisher of Lansing (Mich.) State Journal. He continues as a vice president in the Midwest Newspaper Group. Michael G. Kane succeeds Suisman in Lansing. He previously was assistant to the president of the Atlantic Newspaper Group. Betty B. Smith becomes president and publisher of The Baxter Bulletin in Mountain Home, Ark.

Suisman joined Gannett in 1982. He served as a circulation executive in newspapers in Ithaca, Elmira and Binghamton, New York, before becoming president and publisher of the Fort Collins Coloradoan in 1990. He joined the Lansing State Journal in 1994. He is a six-time winner of the President's Ring for outstanding achievement as a circulation executive and publisher. Suisman succeeds Richard L. Holtz, who retired at the end of the year.

"We thank Dick Holtz for his long and illustrious service to Gannett," said Gary L. Watson, president of the Newspaper Division. "We wish him and his family all the best in the future."

Kane is a five-time winner of the President's Ring in marketing. He joined Gannett in 1992 at The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. He became director of market development at the Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Journal in 1993. In 1994, he became vice president/market development at the Journal News in Westchester County, N.Y. He was named assistant to the group president in June of 1999.

Smith begins her second stint at the Baxter Bulletin, where she served as president and publisher from 1993 to 1997. She served as president and publisher of the Wausau (Wisc.) Daily Herald from October 1997 to December 1998, when she left the company to return to Mountain Home. Smith succeeds Hal H. Tanner III, who resigned to join his family's newspaper in Goldsboro, N.C.