20 Under 40 - 1995 Profile: Mary Parks Stier

PRESSTIME

By Presstime Magazine

First Published: December 1995

Among Mary Stier's proudest moments was her 1987 initiation as one of the first two women admitted to Iowa City's Rotary Club. Stier, then 30, had been publisher of the 16,074-circulation Iowa City Press-Citizen six months, and yet the Rotary took that long to make the invitation—too long, she thought.

Now president and publisher of the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star (75,218 ciculation, morning) and group president of Gannett Co.'s Midwest Newspaper Group, community involvement remains Stier's hallmark along with her determination to knock down a few walls. Through frequent readership studies and other means, Stier makes sure each segment of her diverse market has a voice and is heard.

Stier first attracted serious notice in 1982 when, as the Press-Citizen's retail-ad manager, she confronted an Iowa farm crisis that put three of the paper's top-10 advertisers out of business. "We showed double-digit gains," she recalls. "I can't speak for my [Gannett] bosses, but I always thought that got their attention."

Later, as publisher, she spearheaded the paper's purchase and rezoning of 37 acres for a new production and office facility. She also presided over the paper's redesign and conversion from letterpress to offset printing.

Rockford presents entirely different challenges, she says, calling it a fascinating "mirror image of the United States demographically, struggling with the issues of a much larger city. It's a great news town," she says, "and it feels like a newspaper can really make a difference and help this community."