Dave Hunke, president and publisher of USA Today, has assumed the additional role of publisher of USA Weekend. He replaces Chuck Gabrielson, who has retired after more than 35 years with Gannett Co. Inc.
Michael O’Brien, formerly vice president of advertising for USA Weekend, has been named executive vice president/general manager, with responsibility for advertising sales and newspaper relations. Based in Chicago, O’Brien joined USA Weekend in 2002 as account executive/Midwest and was promoted to advertising manager/Midwest in 2004 and advertising director/Midwest in 2007. He was named vice president of advertising last year. Previously, he held positions with Time4Media, McGraw Hill and Cahners Business Information.
Heather Frank, previously vice president of consumer media for USA Today, has been named editor-in-chief of USA Weekend. Frank joined USA Today in 2010 as general manager of Your Life and was later named vice president of consumer media in 2011. Previously, she led the content programming and operations teams for RevolutionHealth.com. Prior to that, she was the editor-in-chief for Meredith Corporation’s women’s lifestyle sites. From 1997 to 2003, she was an executive at America Online, where she led editorial teams in developing programming in response to popular culture and current events. Prior to joining AOL, Frank was the general manager for new media at Where magazines.
Both O’Brien and Frank will both report directly to Hunke. The USA Weekend marketing staff will be incorporated into the USA Today marketing team reporting to Sandra Micek, senior vice president of marketing for USA Today.