Bio: O’Leary, Carol (WNA Election - 2014)

Contact: Robert Lipprandt
bob@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Eymann, Flink, O’Leary

----Source: The Tribune - Phonograph (Abbotsford, WI) 3/05/2014

Carol O’Leary, publisher emeritus of the Tribune-Phonograph and the Record-Review was elected Friday as the president of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association (WNA) at the Milwaukee Marriott West during the group’s 160th annual convention.

O’Leary has served the WNA since 1998, when she began her first term on the WNA Foundation board of directors. She continued on the foundation board in various capacities, including president until 2009 when she began her first term on the WNA Board of Directors. In 2011, she became third vice president.

She has served on the Inland Press Association Foundation Board, was president of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors in 2005-06 and is a member of the National Newspaper Association.

She is an owner of Central Wisconsin Publications, Inc. and publisher of the Star News in Medford and the Courier Sentinel (Cornell and Cadott). She is also the owner of Tristar Printing Co., Inc., a central printing plant in Abbotsford, which prints 10 weekly newspapers.

O’Leary’s career in newspapers began in 1964 at the Times Journal in Savanna, IL. In 1971, she and her late husband, J.A. O’Leary, purchased the Tribune-Phonograph and the Record-Review weekly newspapers in Abbotsford. In 1981, they started the Central Wisconsin Shopper and in 1986 they purchased the Star News and shopper in Medford.

After her husband’s death in 1997, daughter Kris O’Leary and her husband Kevin Flink joined the organization. Together, they purchased the Tribune-Record-Gleaner in Loyal in 2010 and the Courier-Sentinel in 2012.

A native of Savanna, IL, she has been active in her communities, included serving two terms as president of the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce and the fundraising committee to build a new cityhall/library and public safety building and a hospital expansion in Medford. She is treasurer of the Medford Friends of the Towntown and served on the Medford Library Foundation board.

For about 35 years, she has been active in the Abbotsford Christmas parade, making and repairing hundreds of costumes. She received a community service award from the Abbotsford Chamber of Commerce in 2005.

O’Leary succeeds Kent Eymann, publisher of the Beloit Daily News. Eymann, who has been with the Daily news since 1992, becomes immediate past president.

Kris O’Leary, general manager of the Star News, The Tribune-Phonograph and the Record-Review, was e-elected president of the WNA Foundation. The foundations goals are public education on First Amendment issues and support of high school and collegiate journalism education.

WNA’s membership includes 31 daily and 192 weekly newspapers. It was established in 1853 and is among the world’s oldest press associations. Created by and for Wisconsin’s newspapers, WNA exists to strengthen the newspaper industry, enhance public understating of the role of newspapers, and protect basic freedoms of press, speech and the free flow of information.