Longtime Daily Herald senior VPs to retire by year’s end

With gratitude for their service and best wishes for their futures, the company announces the retirements of Paddock Publications top senior managers — Senior Vice President Stu Paddock III and Vice President M. Eileen Brown.

Both have long tenures with Paddock Publications and the Daily Herald Media Group and will be leaving at the end of the year.

Stu Paddock’s earliest childhood memories were formed in smoke-filled newsrooms crafted like a scene from the classic movie “The Front Page.” Stu’s great-grandfather, Hosea Paddock, bought the Palatine Enterprise in 1898, and over the course of decades expanded its footprint in the growing Northwest suburbs. But it was under the guidance of Stu’s father, Stuart Paddock Jr., that the company grew into the Daily Herald Media Group, the third-largest daily newspaper in Illinois, acquiring other competitors while battling the large metros in Chicago.

With this backdrop, Stu began his career in journalism and newspapers long before he began collecting a $1.72 per hour paycheck. Stu is an MBA graduate of the University of Chicago and has worked in every department of the company since he “officially” was hired in 1982. He began working in information technology in the early 2000s, and was promoted to his current role and a member of the Paddock board of directors in 2018.

Stu also gives his time to the community and is serving as an officer on the District 214 Education Foundation board.

“I have spent my entire life at Paddock Publications,” Stu said. “I am honored to have known many of the hundreds of employees who have called this company home. We work hard for success, create friendships and care for each other. Paddock Publications will always be my extended family. I am most grateful for the many opportunities provided to me over the years. It has truly been a glorious adventure.”

Brown’s career at the Daily Herald started straight out of the highly acclaimed Public Affairs Reporting master’s degree program at Sangamon State University (now the University of Illinois in Springfield). She spent many years in the newsroom and has held many titles and job responsibilities in her career with Paddock — city staff reporter, assistant features editor and travel editor.

After a five-year hiatus working as an entertainment editor and columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and editor of the Post-Tribune in Northwest Indiana, Brown returned to Paddock as managing editor in 2002. Since 2007, she held a series of titles on the business side of the company, most recently leading the sales and marketing division. A self-described soup aficionado, Brown has written many articles for our Food pages.

Brown also has contributed her talent to the suburban community, including as a member of the Northwest Suburban Leadership Council for Wings, a board member for Giving DuPage, a board member and past chairwoman for the GOA Regional Business Association and an instructor for the highly-acclaimed Veteran’s Back to Work Boot Camp through the Des Plaines Chamber of Commerce. She most recently has been volunteering for the Alliance for Young Women and Girls.

“I have a lot of mixed emotions about this decision, but the one that rises to the top is gratitude,” Brown said. “I am so thankful for the opportunities I have been given — from traveling the world as a travel editor to helping to lead an award-winning newsroom to starting an events division to ending my career with the greatest sales team ever. I even got to be part of our amazing — brainiac — digital team. What a ride it has been and what an honor to work with such smart, talented, passionate and caring people.”

Publisher and CEO Doug Ray has worked with the duo for their entire careers.

“I remember hiring Eileen as a young reporter, and also working with Stu Paddock through the years,” Ray said. “These long tenures are a mark of Paddock Publications, and, in particular, these two fellow employees have grown and developed into increasingly responsible and key executive positions. I know the staff points with pride to their many accomplishments along the way, as the company has grown into a major newspaper and marketing group.”