Most of the stories celebrating the appointment of Richard F. Zannino as chief executive officer of Dow Jones & Co. have rightly focused on the fact that a non-journalist is going to steer the publisher of The Wall Street Journal for the first time in recent memory. Generally overlooked, however, is the fact that the former vice president and chief operating officer is a prominent member of the CFO community.
Zannino joined Dow Jones in 2001 as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Earlier, he was executive vice president of finance, administration, and the retail, fragrance, and licensing divisions of Liz Claiborne Inc.; he also served briefly as the CFO of General Signal Corp. and Saks Fifth Avenue. And his educational background is strictly finance: he earned a bachelor's degree in finance and economics from Bentley College and an MBA from Pace University.
For a publishing company that has seen five straight quarters of declining profits, Richard Zannino just might be a good fit.
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