How I recruited Rosalynn Carter to the Gannett board.

• Position: MY BOARD - Reprint

Ed. Note: Al Neuharth, founder of USA Today, published by Gannett Co., died in April 2013 at the age of 89. He retired as chairman of Gannett in 1989. "Mr. Neuharth was proud of his record in bringing more minorities and women into Gannett newsrooms and the board of directors," noted the Associated Press in its obituary of him. In his 1989 memoir, Confessions of an S.O.B., Mr. Neuharth recounted the following story relating to the Gannett board.

When I became a CEO in 1973, Gannett had an all white, all male board of 12 directors. When I left in 1989, the board membership had:

--Four females, including one black;

--One black male;

--One Asian male.

They, along with the white males, represent a rewarding diversity of experience and expertise, philosophy and geography. The leadership of Gannett now more nearly reflects its readership and viewership.

I started courting Rosalynn Carter shortly after she and President Jimmy left the White House.After a first visit to the Carter home in Plains, Georgia, I invited both President Jimmy and Hosalynn as guests of honor at a luncheon in Atlanta with our Gannett board of directors. She was impressed with the other directors.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

After my second visit to the Carter home in August 1983, she was still stalling me. President Jimmy said he would be pleased if she decided to join our board, but that it was strictly her decision.

Someone else was needed to lobby in Gannett's behalf. That night I called Bert Lance, Carter's former budget director and still close friend of the family, and I urged him to urge Rosalynn to accept: "This is a chance for one of your Carter crowd who has been on the other side of the press...