Sue Clark-Johnson

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Sue Clark-Johnson (1948–2015) was an American journalist and newspaper publisher. She made history as the first woman to lead Gannett’s Newspaper Division, serving as president from 2005 to 2008. In that role, she promoted the use of print classifieds alongside online options and helped move Gannett’s papers onto the internet as the industry changed.

She was born in Mount Kisco, New York, and earned a bachelor’s degree from Binghamton University. Clark-Johnson began her journalism career in 1967 at the Niagara Gazette, where she became publisher by 1977 after being promoted by Al Neuharth. She went on to lead the Press & Sun-Bulletin (1983) and, in 1984, became regional vice president for Gannett’s East division. In 1985 she became senior group president of Gannett’s West region and also served as publisher of the Reno Gazette-Journal.

After leaving Gannett in 2008, Clark-Johnson was executive director of the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University from 2009 to 2013. Beginning in 2010, she was a professor of practice at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, a role she held until her death in 2015.

Clark-Johnson died on January 28, 2015, in Scottsdale, Arizona after a short illness. In 2017, Arizona State University established the Sue Clark-Johnson Professorship in Media Innovation and Leadership, funded by her husband, Brooks Johnson. The inaugural professorship went to Mi-Ai Parrish. ASU president Michael M. Crow said the chair would carry on Clark-Johnson’s values by supporting a robust free press in the digital age.