Stephen Parker: leaving by mutual agreement
Trinity Mirror’s regional newspapers get a new boss from the end of the month. Chief executive Sly Bailey takes direct control of the country’s biggest group of newspapers, after the resignation of Stephen Parker as managing director of the regional newspapers division this week.
All the regional managing directors will report to her for the immediate future.
Parker, with the company since 1982 when it was Thomson Regional Newspapers, also resigned as an executive director of Trinity Mirror and leaves without another job to go to.
Only two months ago, he took on the role of president of the Newspaper Society.
Trinity Mirror says he left by mutual agreement.
Parker, who has held a multiplicity of jobs within the company, told Press Gazette: “As one often does from time to time, you take stock of your situation and you think about what is the right thing to do going forward.
“I’ve always had a theory that business moves in cycles and in stages. If you are fortunate, you get out at the end of a stage or the beginning of a new stage.”
Parker pointed out that the regional group had gone through the stage of moving from the biggest to best strategy through to group strategy and was now moving to the next stage.
He said: “That being the case, if I was going to go, this is a very good time. I think after 12 years with Trinity Mirror my life has been dedicated to work and to business. I’ve got an opportunity now to take some time out.”
Trinity Mirror trading figures come out next week. Parker says the industry and Trinity Mirror are in a very healthy condition at the moment in terms of advertising revenue.
He is to take a month’s holiday and will take the opportunity to visit regional centres and 250 titles to say goodbye to some of the people who worked with him before his somewhat abrupt departure.
“Then I am open to offers,” he laughed.
He plans to continue his NS duties but a lot depends on what he does next, he said. He hopes that will still be in newspapers.
Bailey said: “I would like to thank Stephen for his tremendous dedication, application and achievement in his time with the company.
“He has been involved in leading the business over the last 20 years, as it has grown from being a small provincial publisher into the UK’s largest newspaper publisher.”
Parker also said: “I have really enjoyed my time at Trinity Mirror and am proud of what I, and the businesses I have led, have achieved. It has been a challenging, exciting, demanding and personally very rewarding experience.”
By Jean Morgan
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