Meet United States’s 101 Top Directors in the Publishing Space

John Cody

Member of the Board of Directors of Gannett

John Cody is a Member of the Board of Directors at Gannett Co. Inc. since February 2011. Previously, John served as an Executive Vice President of Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) from June 2006 to November 2010 and its Chief Operating Officer from 2002 to November 2010. In this role, John was responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of several key departments, including Licensing, New Media, Finance, Operations and Information Technology, Human Resources and Facilities Management and Support Services at BMI. A seasoned executive who has successfully increased BMI’s visibility as a technological leader in the industry, he plays a vital role in many aspects of its business development and is an important decision-maker in major negotiations and on public policy issues. John joined BMI in 1999 and served as its Senior Vice President of Finance and Human Resources and Chief Financial Officer. John spearheaded the recent launch of Landmark Digital Services, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of BMI, and the acquisition of cutting-edge digital audio recognition technology, BlueArrow, which will greatly expand BMI’s ability to measure the performance of music on radio, television and the Internet. Under his leadership, BMI has also acquired a wide range of state-of-the-art software that has helped cut costs and boost employee productivity, including a fully-integrated Ceridian H/R system and an advanced electronic document management system. John oversaw the implementation of a new distribution system for radio airplay revenue, which has resulted in more efficient royalty payments to BMI’s more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. In addition, John oversaw the implementation of company-wide, award-winning optical imaging technology. Among his many other initiatives was the establishment of a business continuity plan to ensure that BMI’s critical functions would remain operational in the event of a crisis. John developed a strategic partnership with SunGard, the leader in disaster recovery, to protect BMI’s most valuable assets and provide an uninterrupted payment stream to writers and publishers. Working closely with BMI’s sister societies in foreign countries, he provides insight and expertise on initiatives developed by FastTrack, the international technical alliance of performing right organizations of which BMI is a founding member. Prior to joining BMI in 1999, John served as Vice President and Controller of the Hearst Book Group in New York, where he was responsible for the finance, human resources and data processing areas of William Morrow, Inc. and Avon Books. John played a leading role in all operations of Hearst Book Group and was instrumental in modernizing its primary systems to be state of the art and Y2K compliant. On the creative side, John played a significant role in structuring deals on acquisitions of major titles. Before being hired at Hearst in 1983, John served as Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of the U.S. headquarters of L.M. Ericsson Telecommunications in New York, with responsibility for the financial, human resources, treasury, administration, facilities and warehousing, information technology and sales support departments. Among other marketing-based initiatives, John implemented a dynamic leasing program during his tenure at Ericsson, resulting in a significant increase in sales of various telecommunications products. John began his career on Wall Street working for Charter NY in a variety of financial positions.

Follow John Cody:

• Crunchbase
• Linkedin

About : Gannett is a media and marketing solutions company that publishes newspapers and operates news and advertising internet sites.

• Website
• Crunchbase
• Linkedin