CRAIG T. KOJIMA / CKOJIMA@STARBULLETIN.COM New Honolulu Star-Bulletin and MidWeek President and Publisher Frank Teskey has worked his way up.

The art of newspapers

Star-Bulletin publisher Frank
Teskey has gone from the art
department to calling the shots

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By Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.com

Whether battling it out on the ice rink with a bunch of middle-aged fellow hockey enthusiasts in his native Canada, or taking on the jobs of president and publisher for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and MidWeek, Frank Teskey is the kind of guy who's not afraid to take on a fight.

Teskey, 51, arrived in Honolulu last month to take over the job held for the past couple of years by Don Kendall, who returned to British Columbia to continue to work with Black Press, parent of the Star-Bulletin and MidWeek.

Teskey, a 33-year veteran of the Canadian newspaper and publishing industry, is no stranger to a challenge. He knows he will face formidable and well-financed opposition in the race for readership and advertising dollars in Honolulu.

"It's the challenge -- it would be easy to talk yourself out of it some days," Teskey said. But, "there's a passion here to make it work."

Teskey is a competitor, friends and co-workers say.

"He's extremely tough, but he's always been well respected and is not the kind of guy to take all the credit," says Bob Grainger, chief operating officer at Black Press.

Growing up in Toronto, Teskey saw firsthand the ups and downs of the news business through his father, a reporter and photographer for the Toronto Star.

Teskey liked what he saw, starting first in the newspaper's art department where he showed a particular interest in graphic design and later pursued it in college.

"I used to go into the office and work with the art department folks," Teskey said.

The interest paid off when the Toronto Star hired Teskey upon graduation. That first job set the trend for his career, say friends and competitors, and Teskey edged his way up through a combination of talent and hard work.

It's been that way ever since, they say.

At the Toronto Star, he attained the position of art director and was part of a major redesign of the paper. That led to a job offer at the Winnipeg Free Press.

From there it was on to the Montreal Gazette and finally back to Toronto's Globe and Mail, where he again oversaw a major redesign and finally the launch of its magazine division.

Along the way, Teskey picked up more skills -- this time on the sales and marketing side of the business -- and some six years later, was appointed publisher of its new West magazine serving western Canada. The job took Teskey to Vancouver.

Paul Sullivan, president of Vancouver's Sullivan Media, has known Teskey since their early days together at the Winnipeg Free Press.

The two worked together on several projects, including West magazine, which ended up winning a national magazine award.

"Publishers don't generally come from the art department," Sullivan said.

However, Teskey is not a man to underestimate, according to Sullivan.

"That's something you should never do with Frank," he said. "He is plain-spoken, but he's also smart and subtle."

While the Globe and Mail eventually decided to fold West, Sullivan said Teskey learned some valuable lessons from the experience.

"He learned through the West experience that you have to do everything right. He also learned that the only solution is to make money, there's no alternative," he said.

While in Vancouver, Teskey also started to take an interest in community newspapers and became a partner in a Vancouver business newspaper.

He also got to know David Black when the two were involved in competitive publications.

In 2000, that relationship eventually led to a job helping to oversee Black's community news subsidiary as vice president of Cariboo Press, which publishes 28 community newspapers.

Rick O'Connor, president of Metro Valley Group, another division of Black Press, met Teskey in 1991 when they worked for the same group of community papers. The company was also a Black competitor at the time.

"He was publisher for one of them and I was group vice president. Basically we worked together there until 1998. He did a terrific job and is one of the most energetic, enthusiastic guys I've ever worked with -- or competed against. He's creative but also very passionate about newspapers and the communities they serve," he said. "He's just one of those guys that actually gets involved and does things."

Teskey is used to facing the competition from an underdog position, another skill he'll need in Honolulu, O'Connor said.

"He's worked in a number of situations where he turned the market around going from underdog to market leader in three to five years," he said.

O'Connor believes those experiences will stand him in good stead for his current job.

But it is his people skills that are his biggest asset, those who know him say.

"He's one of those guys you can warm up to very quickly," said Don Moores, president of Cariboo Press.

But for Teskey, perhaps characteristically, the job is once again about learning something new and winning the battle.

"We have a number of high-profile local investors. Their commitment to this paper speaks volumes about the need to have two voices," he said. "It also speaks volumes to having a lively newspaper that won't be afraid to break new ground."

While some were skeptical about the company's chances for survival after Black bought the Star-Bulletin and MidWeek, for Teskey that added to the appeal of the job. "It was a huge fight so it warrants putting in that much energy," he said.