John N. Wilcox is chairman and CEO of Ottaway Newspapers, senior vice president of Dow Jones and president of Dow Jones Local Media Group.
As CEO of Ottaway he works with executives at the company headquarters in Campbell Hall, N.Y., and ONI publishers to develop strategies, tactics, policies and procedures. In 2003, he became the seventh president of Ottaway since the company was founded in 1936.
He serves on the board of directors of the American Press Institute. He is a graduate of Minnesota State University with degrees in political science and business administration and a minor in journalism. He completed the Advanced Executive Program at Northwestern University. John's family has been in the newspaper profession for 113 years, with his grandfather, father and elder brother having been publishers and his mother a newspaper columnist.
He began his career as editor of the Lakeville Times, a weekly newspaper in Minnesota. In 1970 he joined the advertising staff at the Free Press in Mankato, which became part of Ottaway Newspapers in 1979; he eventually wore two hats there as circulation and marketing director. In 1980 he was appointed general manager of the daily People's Press in Owatonna, Minn., and was later named publisher. In 1983 he moved to Danbury, Conn., as general manager of the News-Times. It was back Westward in 1988 for an eight-year period as publisher of the Globe in Joplin, Mo. Then to the East Coast once again in 1996 to serve as president and publisher of the Cape Cod Times in Massachusetts. In 2002 he moved to the Ottaway corporate offices as executive vice president.
John and his wife Patricia have four children and five grandchildren living in California, Massachusetts, Missouri and New York. John and Pat maintain residences in Washingtonville, N.Y., and Centerville, Mass., and enjoy kayaking, as well as running and walking together each day. |