Who Is Mary Berner? What's Next For Cumulus?

Mary Berner

The 6,000 employees of Cumulus Media suddenly, if not totally unexpected, has a new Chief Executive Officer.

She is 56-year-old Mary G. Berner, a 1981 graduate of Holy Cross.  She is a highly accomplished executives in the media industry, mostly magazines.  However, she has considerable experience in digital media and websites.

Over more than three decades, she has also established a track record of successfully leading media companies to drive financial performance and growth. In recognition of her work, Ms. Berner was named one of the Top Women in Media by Folio magazine in 2014.

Prior to becoming Chief Executive of MPA in 2012, Ms. Berner served as Chief Executive Officer of Reader's Digest Association and a member of the board from 2007 to 2011, where she developed and executed a successful turnaround strategy, oversaw the restructuring of the company's acquisition-related debt (after which she and her team presided over the doubling of the company's stock price) and optimized its brands and assets including through the development of new digital revenue streams. Under her direction, the $2 billion global media and direct marketing company launched 83 websites and 31 mobile apps, and built Allrecipes into the world's largest food website.

From November 1999 until January 2006, she led Fairchild Publications, Inc., first as President and Chief Executive Officer and then as President of Fairchild and as an officer of Conde Nast, when Fairchild became a division of Conde Nast Publications, Inc. Ms. Berner and her team led the company to unprecedented portfolio and financial growth – from 31 magazines and businesses in 1999 to more than 60 in 2006 – by growing profitability on core and "mature" properties, reorganizing underperforming but well-positioned businesses, creating sustainable line extensions of existing brands, and starting new businesses and magazines. In recognition of her outstanding performance, leadership and innovative excellence, Advertising Age named Ms. Berner "Publishing Executive of the Year" in 2004.

Jeffrey Marcus

Cumulus, based in Atlanta, has 460 stations in 90 markets — only iHeartMedia controls more stations, with over 850 — and a content syndication service, Westwood One. The company has also invested in streaming music through a deal with Rdio, a competitor to Spotify and Pandora, that is valued at $75 million and added content from Cumulus stations to Rdio’s system.

But Cumulus’s growth has resulted in a debt load of nearly $2.5 billion, and while its revenue has quickly grown since 2011 with the addition of hundreds of stations, its profitability has stagnated. Last year, it had $1.26 billion in revenue, nearly triple the $466 million taken in during 2011. But in 2014, it had only $11.8 million in net income, down from $176 million the previous year.

In a statement announcing the management changes, Jeffrey A. Marcus, Cumulus’s nonexecutive chairman, praised Ms. Berner and said she had “demonstrated an ability to turn around a company’s performance and build value for shareholders.”

Perhaps hinting at cost-cutting, he said that “maximizing the value” of its assets would require “making them work together effectively and efficiently.”