Adam Silverman

Free Press Staff Writer

Jim Fogler, the president and publisher of FreePressMedia, will leave the company next week after four years in Burlington. His last day at 100 Bank St. will be Oct. 1.

"It's been a great career here at Gannett," Fogler, who has worked for the media ownership corporation for 26 years at seven markets, told a gathering of Burlington Free Press employees Thursday morning. "I have a passion for this business, just like you do, and I'll never lose that."

Fogler has accepted a position as vice president of business development for Party City, the largest nationwide chain of retail stores in the party planning and supply industry. Party City recently opened a 26,000-square-foot store in South Burlington, the largest of the company's outlets in the country.

MORE: Fogler: A return to my roots

Michael G. Kane, president of Gannett's East Group, which includes FreePressMedia, told employees that a search for Fogler's replacement would begin immediately for either local or national candidates.

Tammy Shannon, FreePressMedia's director of advertising, will lead the organization in the interim, Kane announced.

The staff gave Fogler a standing ovation.

"Jim was an inspiration — an easy communicator who quickly came to love Vermont, especially the snow," said Michael Townsend, executive editor of FreePressMedia. "I will miss his enthusiasm and his outlook on business and life in general. He worked hard and laughed even more."

Kane, who has known and worked with Fogler for more than two decades, said someone with Fogler's traits is who he wants to fill FreePressMedia's top job: a person who embraces change and can move quickly and decisively; loves the journalism business; is a savvy digital thinker; and exhibits strong, collaborative leadership qualities.

"That's my job now: to find you somebody as good as Jim Fogler," Kane said. He said that process would begin today.

Fogler arrived in Burlington in fall 2010 after serving as vice president of marketing at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle in New York, where Kane also serves as president and publisher.

Fogler's job with Party City comes after he led a Free Press advertising team in making a pitch to the company. Separately, the Free Press wrote a story about Party City's opening the South Burlington location.

Fogler will have an office in South Burlington, where the 26,000-square-foot store is next to the Hannaford supermarket by the University Mall.

"For me and my family, it's the right move at the right time," an emotional Fogler told Free Press employees. He said the opportunity arose suddenly, and he called his departure "a bittersweet decision."

The privately held Party City has about $2.4 billion in annual sales, up from about $36 million when Executive Chairman Gerry Rittenberg began running the show 25 years ago, he told the Free Press for the article earlier this month.

Fogler will work with the chairman and CEO to develop products, services and solutions that could be rolled out across Party City, which is expanding to more than 900 stores by year's end.

At FreePressMedia, Fogler has overseen numerous significant changes:

• The conversion of the printed newspaper from a broadsheet to a compact edition.

• A $2.4 million investment in remaking the printing press on South Winooski Avenue.

• The relocation of Free Press offices from 191 College St., where the newspaper had operated for 187 years, to high-tech space on the seventh floor of 100 Bank St. in downtown Burlington.

Fogler's work at the Free Press coincided with the continuing downturn of print advertising and circulation revenue across the newspaper industry, and there were unpaid furloughs and layoffs in Burlington during Fogler's tenure. Meanwhile, the Free Press has seen continued growth across all platforms, including its website, BurlingtonFreePress.com, and various social-media channels.

The publisher's comments Thursday focused on accomplishments, teamwork and a sense of family among Free Press employees.

"In four years here in Vermont," Fogler said, "we've moved mountains."

He said he'll miss FreePressMedia colleagues but will say no goodbyes, as his new office is just down the road. He starts with Party City on Oct. 6.

Fogler praised the Free Press team and promised to remain "the best brand ambassador out there."

"From the stories we tell, the quality journalism that we provide our readers — we change people's lives," Fogler said. "On the ad side, just like each and every one of you, I love meeting customers, learning about their business, coming back and putting a media solution together, and then closing that sale. There's nothing like that feeling."

Contact Adam Silverman at 660-1854 or asilverman@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/wej12.