James P. Dolan

James P. Dolan, 55, is chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Dolan Media Company, a provider of specialized business information and services to professionals in the fields of law, credit, finance and construction. The Minneapolis-based company, which Jim founded with investors in 1992, publishes business newspapers in 21 U.S. markets, operates construction and law databases across the country, and is a leading North American business-to-business teleservices provider.*

Previously he was executive vice president and managing director of The Jordan Group, Inc., a New York-based mergers and acquisitions advisory firm specializing in media; vice president for strategic development at The Sun Times Company, Chicago, during its venture-backed management buyout; partner in Kummerfeld Associates, Inc., a media M&A advisory firm in New York; and president of Keycom Electronic Publishing Co., an online provider of information and services to consumers in the Chicago metro area.

Earlier in his career Jim spent 15 years with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, beginning as a reporter at News Corp.’s first U.S. property, the San Antonio Express-News, working through the beats, the capitol bureaus and the newsroom desks, eventually becoming vice president and executive editor of the San Antonio operation’s two dailies and its Sunday paper. Later he had various business and management duties at News Corp.’s international publishing properties in Australia and the United Kingdom and eventually he became director of the New Media Group at News Corp. headquarters in New York City.

Jim is a journalism graduate of the University of Oklahoma (BA 1971) and was named outstanding alumnus of OU’s Gaylord College of Journalism in 1998. He has won several dozen local, regional and national journalism awards for writing, reporting and editing.

He also is a director of Advisor Media, Inc., San Diego, a magazine and conference company; of Peoples Educational Holdings, Inc., Saddle River, NJ, (NASDAQ: PEDH), a textbook and educational materials publisher; of GovDocs, Inc., St. Paul, a software and service provider to local governments; and of The Greenspring Companies, the for-profit arm of Minnesota Public Radio.

In 2001 Jim was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Upper Midwest region and he was inducted into the E&Y National Entrepreneurs Hall of Fame in 2002.

He also serves on the professional advisory board for The University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism. He and his wife of 34 years, Sylvia, live in Minnetonka, Minnesota.

* On Aug. 1, 2003, Dolan Media sold one of its database businesses, the nation’s largest gatherer of credit-related public records, to the LexisNexis unit of Reed Elsevier plc.