A head for news and business

The first thing that strikes you about Penny Abernathy is her apparently never-ending reservoir of energy and enthusiasm, even more remarkable when she mentions it is her 33rd year in the newspaper business. And, she readily admits, she needs it. As senior vice-president, international and development, for The Wall Street Journal, Abernathy was one of the driving forces behind the title's recent relaunch to a version, which she says is aimed at better serving its existing readers and catering to a new generation of C-suite executives. For Abernathy, the global relaunch meant long hours on the road, high-profile launch parties, gruelling interview schedules, endless speaking engagements and assorted official duties. "It has been fabulously successful, both in advertiser reception and reader reception," she says. "I've been involved in a number of launches over the years and this has been turned around quicker than any other launch I've been involved in." The idea of revamping one of the world's oldest titles was floated earlier this year, and soon after, the ball was rolling. Abernathy reveals that logistically, it was a Herculean effort to ensure the new paper had a smooth rollout. Growing up in North Carolina, she launched her career as journalist by marching into the local paper and announcing that she was ready to write, because she had, after all, been editor of her school newspaper. She got the job. And after cutting her teeth on obituaries and baseball reports alike, she realised she had fallen in love with the industry, a love that has grown over the years. "I love the smell of newsprint, I can smell it a mile away," she says. "I still have an ability to read the type upside down and backwards, because that's the way hot-type used to go in." Over the years, she rose through the newsroom, becoming assignment editor of the Dallas Times Herald. It was during this stint she realised poor business decisions were costing the paper valuable ground in the then-heated newspaper wars. "I remember calling the CEO of another company, saying I had just realised the war here is not going to be won on good journalism, but bad business decisions," she recalled. Disillusioned yet determined, Abernathy chose to embark on an MBA, before restarting her career on the business side. Although mainly focused on acquisitions in the early days, she finally landed at the New York Times' doorstep as business manager of the newsroom between 1990 and 1993. A few short years later, she moved on to run the prestigious Harvard Business School Publishing Company, and then on to the Wall Street Journal. So, as an accomplished veteran of both sides, does she miss the news grind? "There have been so many unique challenges and opportunities on the business side, that do I miss the daily grind? No," she says. "Do I love it when I can still sit down and edit a story up and turn it around and convince myself I haven't lost my touch? Then, yes." Abernathy maintains it was her time on both sides of the coin that provided her with the insight and experience necessary to make the important business decisions, while still allowing the editorial side to retain its integrity. "Because I have been a journalist, I know what will fly and what won't fly," she says. "Journalists who have worked with me, and I hope this is true, say that I tend to see possibilities with the content that maintains their credibility in a way that makes it a thriving, innovative business." And after more than three decades in the game, it seems Abernathy is showing no signs of slowing down. "I can't ever imagine retiring to be on a golf course, it's such an exciting field. Do I aspire to write again someday? Yes. Do I have about five or six books bouncing around my head? Like everybody, yes."