What's a director worth?

Last week, Lee Enterprises added an 11th member to its board of directors, Brent Magid. Only two board members also work for Lee full-time:

• Mary Junck, Lee's president and chief executive officer is chairman of the board
• Gregory P. Schermer is one of Lee's 12 vice presidents

In 2009, the average compensation for the other nine directors was $69,167.78. In 2009, Lee laid off more than 500 employees. (Lee has made several layoffs in 2010, although I do not have numbers for several papers.)

Basic information on each director:

RICHARD R. COLE
Full-time job: Journalism professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill
Director since: 2006
2009 director compensation: $67,470
2008 director compensation: $71,065
2007 director compensation: $100,385

NANCY S. DONOVAN
Full-time job: Founding partner of private equity firms Circle Financial Group LLC and Oakmont Partners LLC
Director since: 2003
2009 director compensation: $70,470
2008 director compensation: $79,065
2007 director compensation: $108,385

LEONARD J. ELMORE
Full-time job: Attorney
Director since: 2008
2009 director compensation: $66,470
2008 director compensation: $46,065

MARY E. JUNCK
Full-time job: President and chief executive officer of Lee Enterprises
Director since: 1999
2009 compensation: $1,323,098
2008 compensation: $2.5 million
2007 compensation: $3.7 million

WILLIAM E. MAYER
Full-time job: Founding parter of private equity firm Park Avenue Equity Partners L.P.; director of a management investment company and another that develops and markets software and hardware for people with speech and learning disabilities
Director since: 1998
2009 director compensation (Lee only): $95,470
2008 director compensation (Lee only): $97,065
2007 director compensation (Lee only): $124,385

HERBERT W. MOLONEY
Full-time job: President and chief operating officer of Western Colorprint Inc.
Director since: 2001
2009 director compensation: $79,220
2008 director compensation: $86,815
2007 director compensation: $114,885

ANDREW E. NEWMAN
Full-time job: Private investor
Director since: 1991
2009 director compensation: $93,470
2008 director compensation: $99,065
2007 director compensation: $126,385

GORDON D. PRICHETT
Full-time job: Founder of private investment group Cairnwood Cooperative in Boston, and math professor at Babson College in Babson Park, Mass.
Director since: 1998
2009 director compensation: $71,470
2008 director compensation: $79,065
2007 director compensation: $107,385

GREGORY P. SCHERMER
Full-time job: Vice president of interactive media at Lee Enterprises
Director since: 1999
2009 compensation: Not found
2008 compensation: Not found
2007 compensation: $576,029

MARK B. VITTERT
Full-time job: Private investor
Director since: 1986
2009 director compensation: $78,470
2008 director compensation: $88,065
2007 director compensation: $114,385

Salary information from Forbes.com

VP: More Kindle users would save money

Greg Schermer, Lee's vice president of interactive media, said the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has 562 Kindle subscribers without promoting the service.

The Quad-City Times also is available on Kindle. The Post-Dispatch charges $7 a month; the Times is $6.

The two papers send their papers to India each night where they are converted into Kindle's format then sent to subscribers. Schermer said converting more subscribers to the Kindle or similar products would save money in newsprint and production. "That's a big expense for a company like ours," he told The Pantagraph.

Schermer did not say how much Lee spends to send the paper to India each night to convert it to the electronic format.

6 Lee execs cash in shares

On Nov. 16, six Lee execs sold 24,415 shares of Lee stock for $94,730.20 (or $3.88 per share).

Name	Title	Shares sold	Walked away with
Mary Junck	chairman, president, ceo	15,123	$58,677.24
Greg Veon	vice president - publishing	2,856	$11,081.28
Kevin Mowbray	vice president - publishing	1,980	$7,682.40
Greg Schermer	vice president - interactive media	1,652	$6,409.76
Mike Gulledge	vice president - publishing	1,431	$5,552.28
Vito Kuraitis	vice president - human resources	1,373	$5,327.24

See the SEC filings.