New CEO Talamantes seen as savvy, with more traditional style
His predecessor was fond of quoting rock n' roll lyrics at corporate meetings, but The McClatchy Company's new president and CEO has a more traditional style.
Described by one former colleague as an "off-the-charts" smart executive, Patrick Talamantes, 47, who takes over in July, has spent his professional career as a financial manager involved with media companies.
"He's not the kind of guy who will be quoting rock n' roll songs," said Lynn Dickerson, McClatchy's vice president of operations from 2006 to 2009. "He will be a good, smart, hardworking guy who knows the company inside and out. He's Wall Street savvy."
As outgoing CEO Gary Pruitt's "confidante and right-hand adviser," she said, Talamantes helped McClatchy navigate the 2006 Knight Ridder Inc. acquisition, as well as the subsequent efforts to sell assets, pay down company debt and deal with layoffs and downsizing.
Dickerson described Talamantes, a Stanford grad with an MBA from University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, as "off-the-charts" smart.
Reached by phone, Talamantes said Pruitt will be "a tough act to follow." But the new CEO said he's enthused about the company's "very bright future."
"After 11 years and having fought to preserve those journalistic traditions and do everything we can to keep the company safe through the economic downturn, I'm more dedicated to this place than ever," he said.
A native Californian who grew up in Sebastopol, Talamantes was introduced to the multimedia business in New York, handling media company financing for Chemical Bank. He later spent nine years as chief financial officer at Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. in Maryland, which owned more than 60 TV stations nationwide.
Joining the McClatchy company 11 years ago was a chance to return home to Northern California, Talamantes said. He and his wife, Scarlett, have two teenage boys, 13 and 16, who attend Sacramento Country Day School.
In other changes announced Wednesday, Kevin McClatchy, 49, a fifth-generation family member, was named the new chairman of the board.
In his resignation letter, Pruitt said he's "delighted" that Kevin is the first family member to lead the board since Jim McClatchy, Kevin McClatchy's late uncle, served as chairman from 1989 to 1995.
Dickerson, now CEO of the Gallo Center for the Arts, said McClatchy's appointment as board chairman was "a logical choice," given his business experience, his relatively young age and his "family legacy and love of journalism that's been handed down to generations of the McClatchy family. It's a good fit."
McClatchy is perhaps best known for his sports acquisitions. In 1996, at age 33, he led a group of investors that bought the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team for $95 million. He also owned a minor-league baseball team, the Modesto As.
McClatchy has served on the McClatchy board since 1998.
This story was originally published March 22, 2012 at 11:11 AM with the headline "New CEO Talamantes seen as savvy, with more traditional style."