Profile: Cyndy Carr

By Mary Lynn F. Jones

First Published: December 2007

Personal Data

Date of birth: Aug. 4, 1972.

Grew up in: Dallas.

Personal: Married, Christian; daughters, Peyton, 5, Morgan, 4, and Adrienne, 2.

Pets: Cats, Jasper and Shelby.

Hobbies/Diversions: Spending time with her children, traveling, reading, gardening.

Education: 1994, B.S., environmental science, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth; 1997, M.S., environmental science and engineering and 2000, Ph.D., environmental science and engineering, Rice University, Houston.

Career: 1994-2000, research assistant, Rice University, Houston; 2000-04, associate and engagement manager, McKinsey & Co., Houston and Dallas; 2004-present, director of business development, vice president of advertising marketing, vice president of strategy, senior vice president of niche products, The Dallas Morning News.

Connections: The Dallas Morning News, 508 Young St., Dallas, Texas 75202, (214) 977-8536, cscarr@dallasnews.com

For Cyndy Carr, strategizing about the growth of The Dallas Morning News is a lot like the engineering work she did as a Ph.D. student at Rice University in Houston.

"It's about being able to solve complex problems by breaking them down and then building them back up," says the 35-year-old Carr, the paper's senior vice president of niche products.

Since Carr joined the Morning News in 2004, she has risen rapidly through the paper's ranks, starting as director of business development and taking on her current role in June. She now oversees Quick, the weekday paper targeted at 18-to-34-year-olds; Al Día, the daily Spanish-language publication; neighborsgo, 17 weekly community papers filled with citizen-generated content and aimed at small advertisers; seven magazines; and the paper's direct-mail business.

"Every day it's a challenge, looking for opportunities to do things better and more efficiently, and for growth," says Carr.

Neighborsgo launched 16 editions in 2005, folded one into another edition and created two more in August. Carr and her team increased the number of Starbucks locations where the papers are distributed from 76 stores to 97 this year and also launched 55 online community micro Web sites to accompany the print products.

Carr's role is similar to the work she did previously as a consultant at McKinsey & Co. in Houston and Dallas, where she focused on problem-solving for corporate clients by helping them take calculated risks, learn from their mistakes and come back at problems in different ways.

Newspapers, she says, must build new audiences by diversifying and creating niche products both online and in print. They also must recruit and develop talented staffers, she says.

"No matter if it's a business or cultural problem, you've got to have the right people on your team," Carr notes. "They're the key to my success."

Five Questions
 

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

By nature of my role, I am responsible for helping to fuel new growth for The Dallas Morning News. It's my job to ensure that the new, niche products that we develop get the right resources and support to continue to grow. Making sure that we benefit from the infrastructure, but at the same time are not constrained by it, is often my biggest challenge.

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

I feel rewarded when my team wins. Winning is simply defined as developing our people and driving positive change in our communities and for our advertisers through our products. My role is to help set direction and remove obstacles so that the team can put points on the board.

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

Ancillary products that drive new audiences and new revenue streams are going to continue to be important for newspapers. I believe that to fuel this growth, we're going to have to find strategic partners that will help us grow audiences and/or provide technology and resources that we can't on our own. It's going to require more creative thinking and the desire to take more calculated risks.

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

Find something that you can be passionate about and that builds on your strengths but also challenges you in new ways. Recently, someone also reminded me of the old saying, "Don't be afraid to go out on a limb. That's where all the fruit is." I reflect on that often, particularly when I find myself playing it safe.

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

I wish I had all the answers, but I don't. I would suggest more focus on listening to our customers (both advertisers and readers); taking risks, with the understanding that if or when we fail, we will learn something; and attracting people to this industry who see change as a challenge.