'Star Tribune' Lenders Float New Board Members for Post-Bankruptcy

By: The Star Tribune's main lenders have picked a slate of new board members to lead the newspaper after it emerges from bankruptcy reorganization.

The Star Tribune said Monday its proposed board of directors includes L. Gordon Crovitz, former Wall Street Journal publisher; Michael Sweeney, managing partner of the Minneapolis private equity firm of Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison; former banker and investor William Farley of Minneapolis; and Michael Reed, head of GateHouse Media Inc. of Fairport, N.Y. Two additional board members are expected to be named later.

A federal bankruptcy judge is expected to confirm the company?s plan of reorganization Sept. 17. The plan calls for the newspaper?s major secured creditors to swap $430 million in debt for control of the company, plus $100 million in new debt.