Dow Jones Makes Management Changes

By: Seth Sutel, AP Business Writer (AP) Dow Jones & Co., which publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, and other publications, announced several changes in its senior management ranks Tuesday, including the appointment of a chief operating officer.

In a memo to employees, Peter Kann, the company's chairman and chief executive, said he was relinquishing two of his five different roles within the company, that of chief operating officer and publisher of the Journal. Kann also serves as chairman of the board and as editorial director of all Dow Jones publications.

Noting that he will be turning 60 later this year, Kann wrote in the memo that "while I have no intention of going anyplace anytime soon, it did seem to me that it made sense to share more of this responsibility."

Richard Zannino, who joined Dow Jones in February 2001 as chief financial officer, will become the chief operating officer, responsible for all the company's operating units. Christopher Vieth, formerly vice president of finance and controller, will replace Zannino as chief financial officer.

Karen Elliott House, who oversaw the company's overseas operations, was named publisher of all print editions of the Journal and a senior vice president. House, who is married to Kann, won a Pulitzer prize as a reporter for the paper and also served as its foreign editor.

Paul Steiger, managing editor of the Journal, will take on the additional responsibilities of overseeing the editorial operations of the Journal's overseas editions.

Kann also named an executive committee of senior managers to advise him on leading the company. In addition to Kann, the group includes Zannino, House, Steiger, general counsel Peter Skinner, Gordon Crovitz, head of the company's electronic publishing operations, and James Ottaway Jr., head of the Ottaway Newspapers group.

In addition to the Journal and the Ottaway newspapers, Dow Jones also publishes Dow Jones Newswires, Barron's, the Far Eastern Economic Review, and numerous stock market indicators, including the Dow Jones industrial average. The company also co-owns SmartMoney magazine, the Factiva news database service, and CNBC's television operations in Europe and Asia.