Tribune Names Melanie Hughes As EVP/Human Resources

CHICAGO, May 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Tribune Company today announced the appointment of Melanie Hughes as Executive Vice President/Human Resources, effective immediately.  During a 25-year career in the retail and consumer goods industries, Hughes has worked with such iconic brands as Gilt Groupe, COACH and DoubleClick, holding a variety of high-level executive positions overseeing human resources, operations, facilities, mergers & acquisitions and change management.  Hughes will report to Tribune Chief Executive Officer, Peter Liguori, and be responsible for all of the company's human resources functions including recruitment, compensation and benefits, organizational development and employee relations.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130516/CG15559)

"Who we hire, how we manage our people, how we behave toward each other in the workplace, and our attitude toward the work we do is critically important to Tribune's long-term success," said Liguori.  "Melanie's talent, broad experience, and leadership skills will help us build a creative culture that invites people in and encourages them to question the status quo, to innovate, and to offer solutions that will enable us to continue evolving as an organization."

Since August 2012, Hughes has led her own consulting practice, Org4Change, specializing in strategy and organizational development and building executive teams. 

Hughes has worked with some of the world's most well-known brands in retail and consumer goods. Prior to Org4Change, she served three-plus years as Chief Administration Officer for Gilt Groupe and was responsible for customer service, creative services, human resources, facilities, and sales operations.  Under her leadership, Gilt grew from 120 employees to more than 1,000, and revenues jumped tenfold.  She helped build senior teams, operational technology systems, an internal recruiting operation, and attacked cost inefficiencies across real estate, creative services, and customer service.  Hughes also integrated three acquisitions into the operations and the culture.    

Before her work with Gilt, Hughes was SVP/Human Resources at COACH, responsible for managing HR programs for ten thousand employees.  She was instrumental to developing the talent management, systems, communication and people that were an important factor in the exceptional growth of COACH.

"The most important resource at any company is its people," said Hughes.  "Tribune has passionate, dedicated employees who clearly believe in the company's mission.  That's a great foundation for growth—I'm looking forward to the work ahead."

From 2000 to 2005, Hughes oversaw human resources for the digital advertising giant DoubleClick, where she helped to lead the reorganization of the company, created the company's infrastructure for operations in India, introduced a compensation model aligned with shareholder interests, and conducted due-diligence and integration for no less than 12 acquisitions and four divestitures. 

TRIBUNE is one of the country's leading multimedia companies, operating businesses in broadcasting, publishing, and interactive. The company's broadcasting group owns or operates 23 television stations, WGN America on national cable, the national multicast network, Antenna TV and Chicago's WGN-AM. In publishing, Tribune's leading daily newspapers include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, Sun Sentinel (South Florida), Orlando Sentinel, Hartford Courant, The Morning Call and Daily Press. Popular news and information websites complement Tribune's print and broadcast properties and extend the company's nationwide audience.

Media Contact:
Gary Weitman
SVP/Corporate Relations
312/222-3394 (office)
[email protected]

SOURCE Tribune Company