Publisher & President
William H. Fleet
publisher@fresnobee.com
(559) 441-6060
William H. Fleet was named publisher and president of The Fresno Bee in October 2008. In 2006, he was named president and publisher of McClatchy's Bradenton Herald after 19 years as a publisher for several Southern California Newspapers. From 2004 to 2006, he was group publisher for Times Community News and responsible for the operations of five Los Angeles Times-owned community newspapers. From 2001 to 2003, he was publisher of the Santa Barbara News-Press, and from 1993 to 2001, he was publisher of The Signal in Santa Clarita. From 1987 to 1993, he was publisher of Los Angeles Independent Newspapers. He spent 16 years on the board of directors of California Newspaper Publishers Association, and served as president of the association in 2005-06.
Senior Vice President & Executive Editor
Betsy Lumbye
blumbye@fresnobee.com
(559) 441-6207
Betsy Lumbye was named senior vice president and executive editor in 2006. After coming to Fresno as assistant managing editor in 1997, she was promoted to managing editor the following year. She was managing editor at The Herald in Rock Hill, S.C.; was metro editor at The Record in Stockton; was a reporter, assistant city editor and city editor at The Knoxville (Tenn.) Journal; and was a reporter at The Colorado Springs Sun. She graduated from the University of Virginia, where she majored in English and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society.
Senior Vice President of Sales & Strategic Marketing
John Coakley
jcoakley@fresnobee.com
(559) 441-6143
John Coakley, vice president of sales and marketing, is responsible for advertising sales, direct marketing and research at The Fresno Bee, The Clovis Independent and Vida en el Valle. A 23-year employee with McClatchy Newspapers, he joined The Fresno Bee in 1991 after spending nine years with The Sacramento Bee. Coakley has a bachelor's degree in journalism from California State University, Fresno, with an emphasis in advertising.
Vice President of Circulation
Tom Cullinan
tcullinan@fresnobee.com
(559) 441-6290
Tom Cullinan was named vice president of circulation in 2000 after serving as director of circulation for nine years. He joined The Fresno Bee in 1984 as city circulation manager and has held a variety of other positions in circulation. While attending college, Cullinan started in the newspaper business at the Detroit Free Press in 1969 and spent 15 years there in the circulation division. A native of Detroit, Cullinan graduated from Wayne State (Mich.) University with a degree in business.
Editorial Page Editor and Vice President
Jim Boren
jboren@fresnobee.com
(559) 441-6307
Jim Boren, a 35-year employee of The Fresno Bee, is the newspaper's editorial page editor, overseeing production of the opinion pages. He also writes a column that appears in the Vision section of Sunday's Bee. Boren covered politics for The Bee for 15 years prior to moving to the editorial pages in 1995. He has covered every level of politics, including city council elections, governor races and presidential campaigns. Boren's current column focuses on politics and government policy. One of his columns led to the creation of the annual Rose Ann Vuich Award for Ethical Leadership, which recognizes local elected officials who have met high ethical standards. A native of Fresno, Boren graduated from California State University, Fresno, with a degree in journalism.
Executive Assistant to the Publisher
Paddy Brown
pbrown@fresnobee.com
(559) 441-6232
Paddy Brown is responsible to the publisher and president for administrative and financial areas. Administrative responsibility includes management of the employee dining center. She assists the finance director in development of the yearly financial plan. Brown joined The Bee in 1979 after working as office manager for a local truck dealership. She has served on the board of directors of United Way of Fresno County and currently serves on the steering committee for Leadership Fresno.
Vice President of Finance
Glynna Billings
gbillings@fresobee.com
(559) 441-6260
Glynna Billings was promoted to Controller in 2008 to lead The Bee’s Finance division. She has over 15 years of accounting experience. Ms. Billings was born in Fresno and raised in the surrounding rural area. In 2005 she decided to go back to school and earn her accounting degree, which she completed with honors. Ms. Billings came to The Fresno Bee in 2007 as a senior accountant.
Vice President of Interactive Media
Stephen Dana
stephendana@fresnobee.com
(559) 441-6041
Stephen Dana joined The Fresno Bee in 2003 and oversees Internet sales. In 2003, the Newspaper Association of America's Presstime magazine named Dana one of its "20 Under 40" for outstanding achievement in the newspaper industry. As director of new media at the Ventura County (Calif.) Star, he won an NAA Digital Edge Award, an Editor & Publisher "Eppy" Award for Best Interactive Feature and an NAA Digital Edge Award for Best Regional Portal site and Best Classified Vertical site. Dana began his career in 1989 as a sports editor, designer and writer for the Star, and he also worked in digital media for Treasure Coast Newspapers. He graduated from University of California, Berkeley, with a bachelor's degree in economics and a minor in history.
Vice President of Operations
Jeff Gledhill
jgledhill@fresnobee.com
(559) 441-6076
Named vice president of operations in 2001, Jeff Gledhill is responsible for printing, insertion and distribution of all publications of The Fresno Bee. He came to The Bee in 1997 as prepress manager and was promoted to production manager in 2000. Prior to The Bee, Gledhill was assistant production manager at Dow Jones and Company. Gledhill graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in newspaper operations management. He serves on the board of the local Crimestoppers organization.
Vice President of Communications and Public Affairs
Ken Hatfield
khatfield@fresnobee.com
(559) 441-6302
Ken Hatfield has been director of community relations since 2000 and is responsible for all aspects of public relations, including marketing and promotion. A 33-year veteran of The Bee, he began his career in circulation. He has held a number of positions in advertising, including marketing services manager. In 1992, he became circulation manager and was responsible for home delivery, single copy, Newspapers in Education and circulation marketing. Hatfield serves on the executive boards of the Fresno Zoological Society and the Sequoia Council Boy Scouts of America. Hatfield grew up in Fresno and received a Bachelor of Arts from California State University, Fresno.
Vice President of Custom Publications
Valerie Bender
vbender@fresnobee.com
(559) 441-6766
Valerie Bender acts as the publisher of The Clovis Independent and our bilingual newspaper, Vida en el Valle. She also oversees all of The Bee's custom publications, including Get Out!, Imagine magazine, Homestyle and numerous weekly sections and special sections. Prior to this position, Bender was an assistant managing editor in The Bee's newsroom, overseeing the features, photography and graphics departments, newsroom technology and newspaper design. With 28 years in the business, she has held numerous roles at newspapers across the country, including managing editor at the Wilmington (Del.) News Journal and deputy managing editor at the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. Bender serves on the executive board of The Fresno Art Museum. She holds a Bachelor of Science in journalism from the University of Florida.
Vice President of Human Resources
Laura Janigian
ljanigian@fresnobee.com
(559) 441-6243
Laura Janigian was named vice president of human resources in 2008. She is a nearly life-long Fresno resident who was graduated from California State University, Fresno, with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration with a human resources management emphasis. She started at The Bee in 1989 in the Finance Division and moved to Human Resources two months later where she has since held a number of positions, including Human Resources Manager.
Janigian serves on the board of directors for Court Appointed Special Advocates
(C.A.S.A.) of Fresno and Madera Counties whose mission is to recruit, train, and support citizen volunteers to advocate and speak for the best interests of abused and neglected children in the Child Welfare and Juvenile Court systems and is also a graduate of the Leadership Fresno program.
Publisher of The Sierra Star
Betty Linn
blinn@fresnobee.com
(559) 683-4464
Betty Linn joined the executive staff when The McClatchy Company purchased The Sierra Star in 2004. Her career began in 1978 at the Oakhurst Sierra Star as a sales associate, and she later was promoted to sales manager. In 1985 Lesher Communications promoted her to general manager of the Star. She progressed to publisher when USMedia Group purchased the newspaper in 1994. Linn serves on the board of directors of many local organizations, including the Oakhurst Area Chamber of Commerce, Sierra Sunrise Rotary, Yosemite Sierra Visitors Bureau, Oakhurst Advisory Council for Heartland Opportunity Center, Oakhurst Community Park Auction, Oakhurst Community Park Committee and Soroptimist of the Sierras.
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