20 Under 40 - 1999 Profile: Jim Falzone

PRESSTIME

By Presstime Magazine

First Published: December 1999

Nothing short of an epiphany redirected Jim Falzone's j-career. A budding engineer, he toyed with writing in campus newspapers, then helped start a 10,000-circulation, free music monthly in Binghamton, N.Y. Enlightened, he changed his college major to English, interned at the local Press & Sun-Bulletin and decided he would accept any full-time job at the 62,821 morning daily.

"I had to ask the guy, 'What is pre-press?' " Falzone recalls. Today, at 30, and with less than five years in publishing, he's operations manager.

His background helped him play a part on two innovations teams: He was coordinator in 1999 for a Production Quality Committee and co-coordinator for an Advertising Quality Committee. He helped create and promote a job-shadowing program where 15 to 40 participants monthly—from editors to secretaries and circulators to reporters— learn hands-on skills in other departments.

Job-shadowing built understanding and helped break barriers between production, editorial, advertising and administration, he says. "If you sit down with someone while they do their job, it really opens your eyes."

"There have been so many things that we've created from nothing," he observes. He gives special credit to his partners in change, lauding Advertising Accounting Manager Cheryl Campbell, a quality committee co-chair; Production Director Ronda Abbruzzese; and Publisher William V. Monopoli.

He is also amazed at the speed with which some quality-committee improvements were undertaken. In three months, he saw 30 of 50 process-improvement suggestions implemented.

What's the key? Listening. "Really listen to other people's ideas," Falzone says. "Don't shut them out right away. It could be the delivery person who gives you a solution."

Education: 1996, B.A., English, Binghamton University, Binghamton, N.Y.
Career: 1993-96, contributor, Panorama, an arts-and-entertainment magazine, and columnist and photographer, Music Press, both in Binghamton; 1995, intern, NewCity weekly, Chicago; 1994-present, free-lance writer and designer, Jimagination Creations, Binghamton; 1995-present, intern, pre-press assistant, art-services supervisor, operations manager, Press & Sun-Bulletin, Vestal, N.Y.
Personal: Age, 30. Born, Binghamton. Single.
Diversions: Graphic design, mountain biking and a "bigger-than-average appreciation for music."
Connections: Press & Sun-Bulletin, 44201 Vestal Parkway E., Vestal, N.Y. 13850. E-mail, jfalzone@binghamt.gannett.com; phone, (607) 798-1103; fax, (607) 798-0300.