El Observador de Utah (Spanish for "The Utah Observer") announced a restructuring of its management team. The new management lineup includes the addition of Greg Peterson, an international marketing and management veteran, who will serve as publisher of El Observador de Utah. Patricia Quijano Dark will continue as Editor of the newspaper and Erik Patterson as Advertising manager.
Utah’s Hispanic population increased by 77.8% from 2000 to 2010 to 358,000 and amounts to 13% of the overall’s state population.
Greg Peterson joined El Observador de Utah’s parent company, the Deseret Media Companies, in July of 2011, as Vice President of Marketing and International Development. Previously, he spent 20 years in management positions with The Kellogg Company, holding key marketing and management positions on five continents.
Patricia Quijano-Dark, editor of El Observador de Utah, expressed her enthusiasm to have Peterson join the management team, saying, “We have always been proud of the talent and skill level of our team of professionals, but Greg brings a great wealth of international marketing and branding experience in diverse global geographies that will benefit our paper even more. His involvement further represents the importance of the Latino/Hispanic community of Utah to the Deseret Media Companies.
El Observador de Utah currently is the only home-delivered Spanish language newspaper, reaching more than 11,700 homes along the Wasatch Front. In addition more than 10,000 copies are available in Latino markets and other popular locations. The newspaper seeks to expand its home-delivery services in the coming year to keep up with the growth of the Hispanic population.
Dark said the growth of Utah’s Latino population has been greater than expected, creating a larger market for news and information provided by El Observador de Utah and requiring new strategies for marketing and distribution. From 2000 through 2007, minorities accounted for one-third of the increase in the total population and two-thirds of the school enrollment increases in Utah. Dark said, “These changes are permanent and will affect our state and its economy for generations to come. At El Observador de Utah, we intend to be at the forefront of this generational shift.”
