Thomas Ferguson to Retire As President of The Post
Thomas H. Ferguson, who has managed The Washington Post's business operation for 15 years, said yesterday that he will retire next month as president and general manager of the newspaper.</br></br>"I'm a believer in self-imposed term limits," Ferguson, 58, said. "I expect to retire for about two weeks to a month, and then I'm going to go on to do new and different things."</br></br>Washington Post Publisher Donald E. Graham noted that circulation has increased by hundreds of thousands of copies and operating income at the paper has more than tripled since Ferguson joined The Post from Parade magazine, where he had been president. Graham added, "Tom's most important legacy to the paper is 15 years of good decisions on the day-in, day-out business of the paper."</br></br>Post spokeswoman Virginia Rodriguez said the paper would make an announcement today regarding Ferguson's successor.</br></br>Ferguson's job is to oversee advertising, circulation, production and other business functions, which are separate from the paper's news and editorial operations. Post executives said Ferguson heightened discipline in the Post's management and fought to control costs, even before economic recession, the rising cost of newsprint and other developments imposed greater financial pressures on the paper.