20 Under 40 - 2003 Profile: Liz English

PRESSTIME

By Presstime Magazine

First Published: December 2003

When Liz English stepped into her new position as display advertising director for the Denver Newspaper Agency, which publishes The Denver Post and the Rocky Mountain News, she faced an immediate challenge: Mesh two cultures that - prior to the April 2001 joint operating agreement - had fought long and hard against each other.

"Uniting them and having them think as one has been a challenge," English admits. "But I didn't have the baggage. I just came in and said, ‘This is what we need to do.' It's not the old days of the Rocky or the old days of the Post. It's the new day of the agency, and that is what everybody has to focus on."

English was recruited from The Houston Chronicle, where she gained national recognition for bringing grocers in Houston back to the newspaper after losing them to a competitor. The agency has gained far more than a run-of-the-mill, total-market-coverage advertising exec, says Carol Green, the agency's vice president of human resources. "In her 12-plus months here, Liz has built a team, started a direct-mail program, created a training program for all print account executives to assist them in selling into the programs she leads, and - in a severely lagging economy - will finish 2003 at 24 percent over 2002 in her area of responsibility."

English says she enjoys taking on high-risk challenges and projects that no one else wants. "That's been my trademark," she says. "I'll hit my head against the wall, but I'll just keep going until I find another way to go."

Education: 1989, B.A., journalism, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos.
Career: 1989-90, display advertising sales assistant, The Victoria (Texas) Advocate; 1990-2002, inside retail account executive and coordinator, food coordinator, retail food sales manager, direct marketing sales manager, The Houston Chronicle; 2002-present, display advertising director, Denver Newspaper Agency.
Personal: Age, 38. Born, Victoria, Texas. Married, husband Tim, one daughter.
Diversions: Karaoke ("I drive my friends crazy with it"), shopping, traveling, Starbucks coffee and long drives.
Connections: Denver Newspaper Agency, 400 W. Colfax Ave., Denver, Colo. 80204, (303) 820-1251, lenglish@denvernewspaperagency.com.
Photo By Tim English | Cover Photo By Bryan Caspary/ Denver Newspaper Agency