Jane Seagrave, AP Products Developer, Named Chief Revenue Officer

By: E&P Staff Jane Seagrave, who heads global product development for The Associated Press, was named the news cooperative's chief revenue officer Thursday.

Effective March 1, she succeeds Tom Brettingen, who is retiring at midyear.

"Jane understands the changing needs of news consumers and how to create products that help them get news where and when they want it," AP President and CEO Tom Curley said in a statement. "Jane's success in creating new media products and her background as a journalist are the right fit to help AP seize today's opportunities."

Seagrave has overseen a number of AP product initiatives, including the introduction of an AP mobile news product for smart phones, AP Financial News, the Campaign Plus elections product, and online videos.

Seagrave first joined AP in 1980 as a journalist, with assignments in Santa Fe, N.M., Grants Pass, Ore., and Boston. She later served as a vice president for Lawyers Weekly Publications, in Boston; president and COO of Legal Communications, Ltd., a Philadelphia-based legal publisher; and CEO of localbusiness.com, a national news service reporting on business technology.

She rejoined AP in 2003 after working as chief online strategy consultant for American Lawyer Media.

Brettingen has been chief revenue officer and senior vice president for sales and marketing since 2008. Previously he was senior vice president for AP Global Newspaper Markets, responsible for AP's business relationships with newspapers and news agencies.

"Tom has demonstrated extraordinary understanding of agency operations and their services to newspapers and broadcasters worldwide," Curley said. "We are pleased that he has agreed to help us keep important projects moving forward during the transition."

Brettingen joined AP in 1970 as a newsman in Sioux Falls, S.D., and also worked as news editor in Minneapolis, bureau chief in Miami and deputy sports editor in New York and as an executive in AP's newspaper membership, before leaving to work for Milwaukee-based ARI Network Services, Inc. He rejoined AP in 1994 and was later named head director of Business Development.