PNI appoints new executive for HR, labor, and operations

By Tom Belden
Inquirer Staff Writer

Astrid Garcia, a senior executive with the San Jose, Calif., Mercury News, was named yesterday to be senior vice president/human resources, labor and operations of Philadelphia Newspapers Inc., company chairman Joseph T. Natoli announced.

Garcia is expected to start in mid-February at PNI, the publisher of The Inquirer and the Daily News. Garcia, 53, also will be in charge of information technology and legal affairs at PNI.

For the last 21/2 years, she has been vice president of human resources, labor and production for the Mercury News, another Knight Ridder newspaper. She joined the Mercury News from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where she had similar responsibilities.

"Astrid brings fairness, urgency and an amazing sense of humor to all that she does," said Natoli, who worked with Garcia when he was publisher of the Mercury News. "She is one of the most energetic, optimistic, passionate people I know."

Garcia also worked for Knight Ridder newspapers in St. Paul, Minn., and Miami, and for the Hartford (Conn.) Courant. She was an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

Garcia, a native of Puerto Rico, is a graduate of Barnard College and earned her law degree from Brooklyn Law School. She is a board member and past president of the National Association of Minority Media Executives.

Garcia and her husband, Bob Gillespie, have two sons.