Published: August 24, 1998
Last Updated: May 20, 1999
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ASNE on the move

Lee Stinnett, the longtime executive director of ASNE, will retire as head of the association’s staff effective July 1, 1999.

ASNE will launch a search for his successor, President Edward Seaton said.

Seaton, editor-in-chief of The Manhattan (Kan.) Mercury, credited Stinnett with outstanding managerial leadership of ASNE for nearly two decades. "He has made innumerable contributions to our craft, especially in the areas of diversifying our newsrooms, studying readership and confronting challenges to freedom of the press," Seaton said.

Stinnett, 59, heads an eight-member staff housed in the American Press Institute in Reston, Va. He became associated with ASNE in 1981, first as project director and then, in 1983, as executive director. Since then, ASNE’s role in industry affairs has considerably expanded and numerous new initiatives have been launched. Annual expenditures have grown from under $600,000 in 1983 to $2 million in the current year (ASNE and ASNE Foundation).

Founded in 1922, ASNE has employed only three executive directors. Alice Fox Pitts, now deceased, worked for ASNE from 1933 to 1963. She was succeeded by Gene Giancarlo, who worked for the Society until 1983.

Stinnett and his partner, John Fragale, who is also retiring, plan to pursue their many interests, which include volunteer work, hiking and gardening, the arts and visits to Italy. They live in Arlington, Va.