Who We Are

Frank A. Blethen

Publisher and Chief Executive Officer

Frank Blethen is a fourth-generation member of the Blethen family, which founded The Seattle Times in 1896. He has been Publisher and Chief Executive Officer since 1985, having joined the family business full time in 1968. He held a variety of training positions at The Seattle Times until 1974 when he joined The Seattle Times-owned Walla Walla Union-Bulletin as Publisher. He returned to The Seattle Times in 1980 and held executive positions in circulation, advertising, marketing and labor.

A graduate of Arizona State University, Blethen has done post-graduate work at Harvard. He is known for his civic involvement as well as his generosity in donating to many causes in the community, most notably in the areas of higher education, cultural diversity and health and human services.

Blethen is deeply committed to diversity, equal opportunity and inclusion. His other passions include his family, preserving family-owned businesses and independent journalism.

Don Shelton

Executive Editor

Don Shelton is a 40-year journalist and a Seattle Times staff member since 1987. He was the Seattle Times’ Assistant Sports Editor for 22 years, leading preps coverage and coordinating Huskies and Seahawks game-day coverage. Shelton became Seattle Times Sports Editor in 2009, transforming the department into a sophisticated, reader-engagement, print, digital and social-media operation. In June 2016, he was named Executive Editor to lead the newspaper as it transitions toward an increasingly digital landscape.

Prior to joining the Seattle Times, Shelton held journalism positions at the Yakima Herald-Republic, the (Bellevue) Journal-American and the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat. He is a graduate of the University of Idaho.

Ryan Blethen

Associate Publisher and Assistant Managing Editor, Digital Morning Initiative

As Assistant Managing Editor/Digital, Ryan Blethen oversees the digital news operation at The Seattle Times. Blethen also holds the position of Associate Publisher of The Seattle Times, serving as a member of the company’s executive leadership team.

Prior to his move into the newsroom, Blethen oversaw all product development and management for digital and print in his role as Director of New Product Strategies. Blethen has also served as The Seattle Times Editorial Page Editor.

A fifth-generation member of the Blethen family, Blethen has worked as a reporter or editor at newspapers in Yakima and Spokane, and Portland, Maine. His great-great-grandfather, Alden Blethen, founded The Times in 1896. Ryan Blethen is a graduate of Washington State University and attended journalism school at the University of Kansas.

Alan Fisco

Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Fisco joined the company in 1992 as the Single Copy Sales Manager. In 1995, he was promoted to Home Delivery Manager, followed by Director of Consumer Marketing in 1997. He was promoted to Vice President of Circulation in 2005, and in 2006 added marketing to his responsibilities. Fisco started in the newspaper industry in 1983 as Single Copy Sales Manager at The Everett Herald. After three years in Everett, including a promotion to Circulation Sales Manager, he moved to Oregon, becoming Circulation Manager at the Corvallis Gazette-Times. After one year, he moved to The Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore., where he served as the Circulation Director for four years.

Fisco currently serves as a member of the International Newspaper Marketing Association. He is a past board member of the Eugene Jaycees and is involved in numerous charitable and civic activities within the community, including as a board member of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Puget Sound. Fisco has a B.A. in economics from the University of Washington.

Carey Butler

Chief Technology Officer and Vice President

As Chief Technology Officer and Vice President, Carey Butler provides strategic leadership on all technology matters and oversees The Seattle Times IT, Product and Marketing departments. She is a member of The Times executive leadership team.

Prior to joining The Seattle Times in January 2014, Butler served in a number of technology leadership roles, most recently as Senior Vice President of Technology at Coinstar, Inc. (now Outerwall), where she was responsible for all technology aspects of the Coinstar kiosk offering, including development of new consumer products. Prior to her role at Coinstar, Butler was Vice President, Professional Engineering Services, at BSQUARE, where she delivered engineering services and digital products for global consumer electronics companies.

Butler’s leadership roles extend beyond The Seattle Times into the broader technology and nonprofit community, where she advocates for STEM education and workforce development. Butler has held board positions at both the Technology Access Foundation and the Washington Technology Industry Association, and is a current member of the CIO Council at 501 Commons, a 501(c)3 organization that provides customized professional consulting and expertise to nonprofit organizations. Butler earned her degree in Business/Quantitative Methods from the University of Washington.

Gary Smith

Vice President, Advertising

As Vice President of Advertising, Gary Smith is responsible for the successful execution of revenue-generating initiatives covering print and digital platforms. Smith oversees the ongoing evolution of The Seattle Times’ sales functions and the development of innovative partnership packages.

An Omak native, Smith has decades of experience in news media, most recently at The News & Observer newspaper in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., where he was Vice President of Advertising. Prior to working for the News & Observer, he worked at The News Tribune in Tacoma for 13 years. Smith is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.

Sharon Pian Chan

Vice President, Innovation, Product and Development

As Vice President of Innovation, Product and Development, Chan is responsible for leading content funding and development and maintaining funder relationships. This new position combines The Seattle Times’ innovation in developing non-traditional funding for impact journalism with its evolving capacity to create new products and services for digital, engagement and print platforms. Chan leads the product team in building innovative products to distribute Seattle Times content, engaging readers and acquiring subscribers. She also manages the Business Intelligence group, which uses data insights to drive business success.

Chan first joined The Seattle Times as an intern and spent many years as a reporter covering global institutions rooted in Seattle such as Microsoft and T-Mobile. Prior to her current role, she was Associate Opinion Editor. She holds a bachelor’s degree in literature from Pomona College and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in business administration from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She has served as national president of the nonprofit Asian American Journalists Association and as a board member of UNITY: Journalists for Diversity. Before joining The Seattle Times, she was Managing Editor for Orange Coast magazine in Newport Beach, California.

Kate Riley

Editorial Page Editor

As Editorial Page Editor, Kate Riley has oversight of the opinion voice of The Seattle Times and the editorial staff.

An award-winning journalist, Riley joined The Seattle Times in May 2002 as an Editorial Writer and Columnist, focusing on energy issues and urban-rural tensions. Riley started her daily newspaper career at The Times-owned Walla Walla Union-Bulletin in 1985 where she covered agriculture and business. In 1988, she moved to the Tri-City Herald, where she covered business and education, served as Assistant to the Publisher, Editorial Writer and, finally, as Editorial Page Editor.

A Redmond High School graduate, Riley graduated from the University of Washington with majors in economics and communications. Riley is a former board member for the Association of Opinion Journalists (formerly the National Conference of Editorial Writers), and previously served as Editor of the Masthead, its quarterly journal. Additionally, she chaired the organization’s ethics, innovations and nominating committees.