20 Under 40 - 2002 Profile: Christanna Coffman-Brodbar

PRESSTIME

By Presstime Magazine

First Published: November 2002

Efficiency expert

Christanna Coffman-Brodbar admits she's "an organization freak." That helps explain how she quadrupled the productivity of her marketing department with fewer employees while earning a bachelor's degree and being the single parent of two children.

Her life became even busier in November when she married Jay Brodbar, research director for the NADbank readership organization in Toronto. The two met at the 2001 NAA Research Conference in Washington, D.C. At presstime the couple still hadn't decided where their new family would live.

Coffman-Brodbar worked her way up at the 21,204-circulation Dominion Post in Morgantown, W.Va., by being "aggressive in the pursuit of excellence." She joined the paper in 1995 as an advertising department assistant. In March 2000, she was appointed marketing-services supervisor.

The marketing department consists of just Coffman-Brodbar and two part-timers, but it has become a strategic player by initiating branding projects. Its "Nobody Delivers Like We Do" campaign has featured photos and quotes from 70 percent of the paper's employees in two years.

When Coffman-Brodbar discovered that readers thought the Sunday lifestyle sections were dated, she worked with editorial, design and advertising employees to modernize the sections around four themes: mind, body, spirit and financial sense. "It was a marketing-driven project. We established the action plan and developed deadlines," she says. Advertisers have supported the sections with an additional $70,000 annually.

"I am passionate about the work I do," Coffman-Brodbar says. "I know that I expect a lot of others, but I'm even more demanding of myself."

Education: 2002, B.A., emphasis in advertising and public relations, Fairmont State College, Fairmont, W.Va.
Career: 1988-95, accounting clerk, data analyst, lab assistant team leader, West Virginia University Hospitals, Morgantown, W.Va.; 1995-present, advertising assistant, administrative assistant and executive secretary, administrative assistant and public-services coordinator, promotions coordinator, marketing-services supervisor, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.
Personal: Age, 36. Born, Bedford, Pa. Married, husband Jay Brodbar, one daughter, one son, one step-daughter.
Diversions: Reading modern literature, walking, exercising and classical piano.
Connections: The Dominion Post, 1251 Earl L. Core Road, Morgantown, W.Va. 26505, (304) 291-9476, tannac@dominionpost.com.