Master of all trades: editorial, circulation, advertising and now COO - Gorman's Peggy Stath has done it all

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Sept 1, 1990 by Cary Peyton Rich

CHICAGO-Twenty years ago, Cahners Publishing's Hinsdale, Illinois, sales office consisted of 30 salespeople and 10 secretaries. The salespeople were all men. The secretaries were all women. One of the salespeople was Terry McDermott, now president of Cahners. And one of the secretaries was Peggy Stath, now executive vice president and chief operating officer of Gorman Publishing Company, a publisher of food business magazines.

Stath's circuitous route up the corporate ladder took her from editorial to circulation to advertising to publisher. An employee of family-run and -owned Gorman for 16 years, she never stayed in one position for very long. She was always seeking new challenges.

Now 40, Stath is running the day-to-day operations of the company, which publishes magazines, newsletters, newspapers and directories. Gorman's 1989 gross revenues were in excess of $19 million, according to a Business Development Group (BDG) estimate.

"Six or seven years ago, I decided I wanted to be in the top management of a publishing company," says Stath. "Three years ago, I decided I wanted to run a publishing company. It's just the beginning."

And a far cry from the secretarial pool. "Back then, women were only hired as secretaries or Maybe editorial assistants," she remembers. "i don't think there are the barriers now that there used to be. "

After starting at Gorman in 1974 as associate editor of Canner Packer (now Prepared Foods), Stath became managing editor of both Prepared Foods and Dairy Foods. in 1980, she made the switch to circulation director, a position created when circulation was brought in-house. "I made a conscious decision to stay involved in learning about publishing," she says, acknowledging that editorial is "not your typical route to circulation."

In 1983, she took on the additional job of director of magazine operations. Two years later, she became vice president of the Dairy Foods Group. Three years after that, she became publisher of the group. Still a family business

Stath has seen Gorman grow from being a company with 24 people to being one with 140. Despite its size, Gorman is still very much a family-run business. "We have owners that are here and they're active," she notes. "Gorman has evolved, management-wise. You learn you can't do everything yourself, and there are growth pains with that." Pursuing a career in such a tight-knit environment has at times, she feels, "been more personal and more emotional" than it might have been at a different type of company.

Now there's a firm organizational hierarchy in place, with the company divided into four groups: Dairy Foods, Prepared Foods, Bakery Marketing and Production, and Grocery Marketing. The structure fosters communication, Stath maintains. "The reason we set it up as groups was to decentralize the company. The owners are not involved with them on a daily basis. "

Bill Gorman relinquished his chief operating responsibilities to Stath so he could concentrate on long-range planning. Brother John Gorman continues as chairman and as publisher of Grocery Marketing.

"Running this company takes a lot of time, especially for Bill, who's so visible in the industry. The future tends to get shortchanged," says Stath. "At this time, we need to be thinking long-range."

"Peggy's worked for me for about 15 years, in virtually every facet of the company, and every job she's done, she's done very, very well," says Bill Gorman. "I trust her ability, judgment and decisiveness. We work very well together." Gorman also credits Stath with a "great capacity" for growth, adding, "I think she has a lot of growth left." Close to the client

Stath knows the value of being visible in the industry. One of her goals is to make sure all the groups capitalize on strong ties with industry associations and trade shows.

"As publisher of Daily Foods, I knew the customers. I knew the reader. Staying close to your customer is very important today. "

That philosophy accounts for much of Gorman's current success. According to BDG figures, only Grocery Marketing was down in ad pages in 1989. It fell an estimated 6.5 percent. Its revenues, however, were up 16.3 percent, with an approximate $2.5 million gross. Ad pages in industry giant Progressive Grocer were down about 22 percent for the same period.

Stath is also concentrating on cost cutting and improving efficiency. One current project is completing what is now a "quasi" desktop publishing system.

Back on firm footing

The last few years have been rocky ones for Gorman, but Stath sees the company finally reaching terra firma. "This year, we're seeing a turnaround in every single market," she reports.

The ongoing battle to maintain that momentum is never far from her mind, however. "It would be naive to say we haven't experienced what a lot of other publishers have. Advertisers are faced with a lot of options. We're competing with trade shows, direct mail and direct sales. Advertisers like that interaction, the face-to-face contact. They want response, feedback. With advertising, you have to be very specific about what you want. You need to be able to accomplish that same sort of interaction and emotionalism. I believe very firmly that advertising is more effective than trade shows or direct mail."