Mark Willes, Former 'L.A. Times' Publisher, to Head 'Deseret News'

By: E&P Staff Mark Willes, the former General Mills president who earned the nickname "Cereal Killer" for implementing then-unprecedented cutbacks at The Los Angeles Times and its sibling papers, next month will take over as president and CEO of the parent company of the Deseret News.

Willes will head Deseret Management Corp., parent for the News in Salt Lake City, Utah, a television station and other for-profit commercial enterprises owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The appointment is effective March 1.

Willes, 67, replaces Rodney H. Brady, 76, who announced his retirement last week.

Willes was a former president and COO of General Mills in 1995 when he was hired as president and CEO of Times Mirror Co., then the parent of the Los Angeles Times. He was named chairman in 1996, and in 1997 named himself publisher of the Times, a position he kept until 1999.

To many in the newsrooms of the Times and its sibling newspapers, Willes was a polarizing figure. He shut down Newsday's New York City newspaper and the Evening Sun in Baltimore. He shrank the workforce by more than 2,000 and reduced the Times' circulation to non-core markets a few years after declaring he would grow circ to 500,000.

But he also insisted on diversifying the newspaper's staff and coverage, sometimes in clumsy ways, journalists complained. He opened new foreign bureaus and grew advertising at a pace greater than peer newspapers.

However, it was an advertising gambit launched by his publisher successor that caused the greatest controversy during his years at Times Mirror. Without telling the newsroom, the paper agreed to share revenue from a special Times magazine issue about the then-new Staples Center with the arena itself.

In 2000, Times Mirror was bought by Tribune Co.

Willes was most recently in industry news when his name appeared among the top creditors of Tribune, which filed for bankruptcy protection in December. According to the list of unsecured creditors, Willes is owed $11.2 million in retirement and deferred compensation.

LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson said in a statement that Deseret Management views the transition from Brady to Willes "with mixed emotions."


"Mark brings a rich background of corporate world experience and is well respected in the international business community," he said in a statement. "We look forward to working with him. At the same time, we will miss our close association with Rod and his wife Mitzi. We sincerely appreciate these many years of his devoted service."