20 Under 40 - 1999 Profile: Kevin C. Leap

PRESSTIME

By Presstime Magazine

First Published: December 1999

Fellow employees often mark the beginning of the weekend when Kevin C. Leap, a former Wilhelmina model, hops on his desk to sing or dance.

"I'm thoroughly enjoying myself and feel lucky to be where I am," he says just before spending two weeks with friends in a rented villa on an island in Spain.

Fun aside, Leap's sense of personal responsibility has led to model management in merging retail-advertising departments of three newspapers, directing daily operations at eight offices, and implementing programs that have shown annual revenue increases of about 11 percent for four years.

"He invites the challenge, then wants to do more," says Howard Wahl, advertising manager. "His work is like an IV."

Leap currently experiments with the newspaper's Internet options, and he also has developed media partnerships with the local public-television and ABC affiliates to promote the North County Times. He built a television and radio studio in the newspaper offices to facilitate joint reporting and promotions.

Leap came to the paper with a sense of place. During his San Diego County years, he founded a regional development council and an association to promote California's high-tech community. He also served as board member for two North County chambers of commerce and the San Diego Regional Development Corp., worked with the Vista Economic Development Association, and filled an appointment to the San Diego Data Processing Corp. aimed at improving government technological standards.

Community service, he says, helps his projects take wing. Next? A national market-awareness campaign that promotes San Diego's North County as a stand-alone market.

Education: Attended some college, Newspaper Management Center at Northwestern University.
Career: 1984-95, founder and director of Byte Buyer, San Diego; associate publisher, Edge Magazine; vice president of marketing, The California Computer Expo; associate publisher, Computer Publishing Enterprises; 1995-present, associate publisher and advertising director, North County Times, Escondido, Calif.
Personal: Age 38. Born, Mesa, Ariz. Single.
Diversions: Weight training, bike riding, tennis, international travel, theater, body surfing, cooking, reading.
Connections: The North County Times, 207 E. Pennsylvania Ave., Escondido, Calif. 92025. E-mail, kevinl@nctimes.com; phone, (760) 901-4050; fax, (760) 740-5454.