Profile: Todd Haskell

By John Heys

First Published: December 2007

Personal Data

Date of birth: Aug. 17, 1968.

Grew up in: Huntington, N.Y.

Personal: Married, Angela.

Pets: Dog, Barney.

Hobbies/Diversions: Food, travel.

Education: 1990, B.A., history, St. Lawrence University, Canton, N.Y.; 1997, M.B.A., Fordham University, New York City.

Career: 1990-92, sales analyst, The New York Times Co. Group Buy; 1992-94, account executive, McCall's Magazine, New York City; 1994-97, business manager, Meredith Custom Marketing, Meredith Corp., New York City; 1997-99, general manager, Ladies' Home Journal and MORE magazine, New York City; 1999-2004, managing director, Meredith Integrated Marketing, Meredith Corp., New York City; 2004-05, executive director of business development, The New York Times; 2005-07, vice president of business development, The New York Times Media Group; 2007-present, vice president of digital sales and operations, The New York Times and NYTimes.com.

Connections: The New York Times, 620 Eighth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10018, (212) 556-3564, hasketr@nytimes.com

When it comes to The New York Times, Todd R. Haskell calls himself "the quintessential brand loyalist."

A lifelong reader and seven-day subscriber since college, the Huntington, N.Y., native interned at The New York Times Co.'s magazine group in 1989. Today, Haskell, 39, helps the Times create large, cross-platform campaigns to meet clients' evolving marketing demands. Named vice president of digital sales and operations for The New York Times and NYTimes.com last April, Haskell also oversees online advertising sales.

An ability to work well with others, a quick mind and a knack for leadership have helped Haskell excel in both roles, says Denise Warren, a senior vice president and chief advertising officer for The New York Times Media Group.

Haskell, who spent 10 years in New York City with Des Moines-based Meredith Corp., rejoined the Times in 2004 and formed a 30-person sales development team, comprising outside hires and existing staffers. A campaign executed by the group earlier this year, in collaboration with the Times' corporate sales team, promoted The Dow Chemical Co.'s sponsorship of a worldwide relay run designed to raise awareness of the need for safe drinking water.

"Sneakers in the City," a month-long event that was part of the campaign, featured 3-feet-by-5-feet running-shoe statues designed by celebrities, placed around New York City and later auctioned to raise money for drinking-water projects. The print and online marketing effort in the Times also promoted Dow's ongoing "Human Element" brand initiative.

Five Questions
 

1. What's the most challenging aspect of your job?

Prioritizing among the incredibly varied and diverse opportunities we have as an organization. There is so much change in the business as technology lets us deliver our journalism to readers in different and exciting ways, and the advertising opportunities are amazing. It's just really hard trying to prioritize which things we should be putting resources behind so that we can bring them to customers faster.

2. What's the most rewarding part of your job?

The most rewarding part of the job is knowing that what we do every day supports some of the most important journalism that is being done anywhere in the world. When I used to work in magazines (Family Circle, for example), it was hard to get excited about the bundt cake recipe that was on the cover that week (although they did occasionally do really great health coverage). I get excited every day I read The New York Timesto know that I helped support the journalism that our newsroom produces every day. I'm a total news nerd. I was so excited when I got to sit in on our daily Page 1 meeting with the newsroom masthead that I immediately ran back to my office to call my mother.

3. In what ways do you think your current position will change over the next five years?

I think customers will be even more demanding of creative, customer-driven, idea-focused marketing programs. While this has become apparent in the last few years, the days of transactional relationships with advertisers, in which we sell product versus an idea, will be over.

4. What's the best career advice anyone ever gave you?

In 1992, my bosses (John Loughlin, now general manager at Hearst, and Janet Robinson, now our CEO at The New York Times Co.) told me that every good manager needed to "carry a bag" at some time in his or her career. So while I was more interested in the general management side of the business, I moved into an account executive role and sold pages for several years. It was an invaluable experience to understand what a salesperson experiences every day out on the street. .

5. What three things would you change about the newspaper industry?

• We should be more open to change. Just because we have always done something in a particular way doesn't mean its right.
• We should be less self-critical. There is an enormous amount of positive momentum in the industry, and we rarely give ourselves credit for it or report on it in our own pages.
• We shouldn't be afraid to fail by trying new things in our industry. Some will work, and others won't. We learn just as much from a failure as a success, but it's important that we acknowledge when something isn't working and move on.