PAUL TASH
CHAIRMAN & CEO, TAMPA BAY TIMES/TIMES PUBLISHING CO., ST. PETERSBURG
Tash’s first paying job in newspapers was selling advertising for a weekly newspaper in Mishawaka, Ind. He joined the then-St. Petersburg Times as a reporter in 1978, “thinking I would stay three or four years. One thing led to another. I became CEO and chairman in 2004.” The Times, despite a massive retrenchment that has seen it sell its printing plant, remains one of the largest news organizations in Florida. In addition to the newspaper, it owns Florida Trend and a chain of weekly newspapers. Politifact, which the Times started, is owned by the Poynter Institute, a non-profit school for journalists that owns the Times.
| EDUCATION | Indiana University (BA), Edinburgh University (Scotland) (bachelor of laws) |
| CIVIC EFFORT | Every time we break a big story, it’s a huge contribution to the community. We’re in the midst of a big investigative reporting project that will wind up costing a half-million dollars. Nobody else would make that kind of commitment. |
| SOMETHING SURPRISING | I come from a family of teachers. Both parents were teachers. My wife’s a teacher. And one of my daughters is a doctor who teaches at USF’s medical school. |
| ADMIRES | Todd Jones at Publix. He runs a growing company with a strong culture and great customer satisfaction. Their shoppers talk about “my” Publix in the way readers talk about “my” newspaper. |
| READING | The Nickel Boys, by Colson Whitehead |