Pfeiffer named La Jolla Light publisher
Jan 26, 2008
Phyllis Pfeiffer has been appointed publisher of the La Jolla Light, the Del Mar Times, the Carmel Valley Leader, the Rancho Santa Fe Record and the Solana Beach Sun.
The announcement was made by Anthony A. Allegretti, president and CEO of MainStreet Media Group, which owns the publications. Pfeiffer will also serve as vice president of sales and marketing for the newly formed group, San Diego Suburban Newspapers.
A graduate of Cornell University, Pfeiffer started her newspaper career at the La Jolla Light in 1973 and served as its publisher from 1978 to 1987. She then became general manager of the San Diego County edition of the Los Angeles Times until the Times closed its San Diego operation at the end of 1992. The Pfeiffers then headed north to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Phyllis served as president and publisher of the Marin Independent Journal. Most recently, Pfeiffer was senior vice president of advertising for the San Francisco Chronicle.
While in San Diego, Pfeiffer was on the Board of Overseers at UCSD, and the boards of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, Alvarado Hospital, the Medical Education and Research Foundation at UCSD, and The San Diego Dialogue, among others.
In the Bay Area, she was on the boards of the Guide Dogs for the Blind, Oakland Museum of California, Marin Theater Company, Dominican University and the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.
Pfeiffer succeeds Brendan Ruff who was appointed publisher of the three newspapers in the Pomerado Newspaper Group when MainStreet expanded its holdings in San Diego County. The three publications include the Poway News Chieftain, the Rancho Bernardo News and the Corridor News. Ruff will also continue in his role as regional vice president of MainStreet Media.
"Brendan Ruff did a marvelous job restoring the financial viability of our newspapers and engaging with the community. He will be an asset to MainStreet Media Group as we move into new markets in San Diego County. We are also pleased to have someone with Phyllis' newspaper experience and long-standing ties to San Diego, at our newspapers," said Allegretti.
Pfeiffer plans to reside in La Jolla with her husband Stephen, who is executive director of the Association for the Advancement of Psychology in Washington, D.C. Their son Andrew, who attended lower school at La Jolla Country Day and was graduated from the University of San Diego, is an accountant with AV Arias & Co in San Diego. Their daughter Elise, who also briefly attended La Jolla Country Day School, is a senior at Yale University.
About MainStreet Media Group LLC
Based in Gilroy, CA, MainStreet Media Group LLC publishes community newspapers and alternative weekly publications in some of the fastest growing and demographically attractive areas in California including communities south of San Francisco, in North County San Diego, in the Sierras and along the Central Coast. MainStreet publishes both paid and free newspapers.