Brian Tierney

Brian Tierney at the 2007 Public Relations Society of America International Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Brian P. Tierney is an American businessman and publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Born in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania Tierney created Tierney Communications, one of the largest and most successful public relations and advertising firms in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In the local media Tierney became known for personally contacting reporters and their editors with accusations of bias and unprofessionalism whenever a negative story about his clients appeared. In 1997 on behalf of his client the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Tierney lobbied unprofessionalism accusations against Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Ralph Cipriano. The case led to Cipriano accusing The Inquirer of censoring his story and suing the paper for libel. Five years after True North Communications acquired Tierney Communications in 1998, Tierney left and founded another public relations firm which was a sold a few months later.

Tierney entered the media industry in 2006 when he assembled a group of investors to form Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC, a group formed with the purpose of buying The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News. Chief executive of Philadelphia Media Holdings, Tierney also became the publisher of the struggling Philadelphia Inquirer shortly after Philadelphia Media Holdings bought the paper. After overcoming doubts about Tierney's neutrality of the running the paper he criticized in the past, Philadelphia Media Holdings has had to deal with the newspaper's falling circulation and advertising revenue. Outside of business Tierney has also been active in politics and a supporter of Republican causes. Working for the Ronald Reagan administration in the 1980s, Tierney also worked in George W. Bush's 2000 Presidential election campaign, and Sam Katz's 2003 run for Philadelphia mayor. Tierney is also an active member of numerous board of directors including NutriSystem and his old school, the Episcopal Academy.

Early life

Brian Tierney is the fourth of five sons of James and Claire Tierney. Growing up in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, he attended a Catholic elementary school and later the Episcopal Academy. When he was seven his family moved to Springfield Township, Pennsylvania. At the age of eighteen Tierney unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for township commissioner of Springfield.

He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1979, majoring in political science. At the University of Pennsylvania Tierney ran the Penn Students for Gerald Ford campaign, and, at the age of twenty-two, moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked at the Republican National Committee in various positions, including as a messenger between Ronald Reagan's administration and Republican candidates across the country. Tierney moved back to the Philadelphia region as a Reagan appointee in the U.S. Small Business Administration's public affairs office. In 1987 he received a law degree from Widener University. Tierney married in 1980 and has two children.

Public relations

While earning his law degree at Widener University Tierney founded Tierney & Company Public Relations in 1984. Financed completely on his credit card, Tierney & Company was a successful venture for Tierney and, in 1986, he sold the company to Lewis Gilman & Kynett. Tierney stayed with Lewis Gilman & Kynett and by the time he turned twenty-nine he had become president and CEO of the public relations division. In 1989 he left Lewis Gilman & Kynett and founded Tierney Group, another public relations company, with just three people. Tierney's reputation as a successful businessman attracted clients and the company quickly grew with billings of US$3.5 million and thirty-five employees in offices in three cities.

In 1994 Tierney, in association with Chicago-based True North Communications, made a deal with Foote, Cone & Belding Communications to take control of FCB Philadelphia. FCB Philadelphia, which up to 1989 was Lewis Gilman & Kynett, was renamed FCB/Tierney in May 1994 and renamed again in 1995 to Tierney & Partners. Tierney built the company into one of the largest public relations and advertising firms in the Mid Atlantic. Tierney's clients included IBM, McDonald's, Verizon, PECO Energy and the Pennsylvania Lottery. The company created an award winning advertising campaign for Verizon starring James Earl Jones and the slogan "Philadelphia: The place that loves you back" for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation. Other advertising campaigns included wrapping a giant hoagie around Philadelphia City Hall to promote Wawa Food Markets and an ad campaign to prevent a hostile takeover of PECO Energy by Enron.

Cipriano affair

Along with promotions Tierney would advocate for his clients when targeted by news reporters. Tierney would contact news editors to complain about coverage of his clients accusing news reporters of being biased, incompetent and unprofessional. The most notable of Tierney's complaints to reporters was directed to The Philadelphia Inquirer and Inquirer reporter Ralph Cipriano.

Ralph Cipriano was the The Philadelphia Inquirer's religion reporter for about a year in 1993. During that time he was called several times by Tierney on behaf of Tierney's client the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. After leaving the religion reporter position Cipriano wrote articles for the Sunday paper, where in 1997 he wrote a profile on Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua. The profile turned into an investigative piece as Cipriano obtained documents detailing US$5 million in questionable spending and how the church was spending millions in the suburbs while cutting inner-city services.

While Cipriano worked on the piece he and his editors, Jonathan Neumann and Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Rosenthal, were contacted by Tierney. Tierney accused Ralph Cipriano of using inaccurate facts, trespassing and creating a protest at the Archdiocese's vacation home in Ventnor City, New Jersey all of which Cipriano denies. Cipriano says that Tierney indicated to him that it was the Archdiocese that had gotten him removed from religion reporter position, a position Cipriano says he thought he left on his own. Also according to Cipriano, Tierney indicated that if Cipriano was involved in any story about the Archdiocese of Philadelphia Tierney would start a public relations campaign to ruin Cipriano and The Philadelphia Inquirer, a charge that Tierney denies.

The story Cipriano originally wanted in The Inquirer was never published. Cipriano accused The Inquirer of censoring his report and giving into demands from the Archdiocese. Cipriano eventually was published in the National Catholic Reporter and editor Robert Rosenthal accused Cipriano of bias and not being able to prove his stories. Rosenthal said Cipriano "has a very strong personal point of view and an agenda...There were things we didn't publish that Ralph wrote that we didn't think were truthful. He could never prove them." Cipriano sued Rosenthal and The Inquirer for libel and the case was later settled out of court. In an 2001 interview with the Editor & Publisher Cardinal Bevilacqua credited Tierney with stopping the story and noted that The Philadelphia Inquirer's stories about the Archdiocese have been more positive. In 1998 Tierney was named a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope John Paul II.

Later ventures

Tierney Group and Tierney & Partners, later renamed Tierney Communications, was bought by True North Communications in 1998, which is now part of Interpublic Group. Tierney continued as CEO until April 2002 when he stepped down. He continued with Tierney Communications as chairman until December 1, 2003 when Tierney resigned and announced he was founding a new public relations firm, T2 Group.

T2 Group lasted until June 2004 when Tierney announced it was being bought by credit card company Advanta and that Tierney and most of T2's management would be hired Advanta. Tierney became vice chairman of Advanta, but in February 2005 Advanta announced Tierney was no longer serving as vice-chairman. The company gave no explanation as to why Tierney lost the position and Tierney's employment with the company ended the next month.

Philadelphia Media Holdings

The Inquirer Building.

In 2005 Tierney attempted to buy magazines Inc. and Fast Company from Gruner + Jahr, but failed. Tierney tried again to enter the media industry in March 2006 when he assembled a group of mostly former clients or people that are with him on the board of the Episcopal Academy to buy Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. He and other local businessman formed Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC and bought The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com for US$515 million from The McClatchy Company which was selling off newspapers in low growth markets after buying Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.'s parent company Knight Ridder. The buyout was met with skepticism by many at The Inquirer, especially by reporters who had been contacted in the past by Tierney on behalf of his clients. Tierney allayed fears with the members of Philadelphia Media Holdings signing a pledge not to interfere with the paper's editorial independence. Tierney said he would combat The Inquirer's decreasing revenue by spending millions on advertisements and promotions and not by laying off staff. Tierney assumed the role as publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer in August 2006 after former publisher Joe Natoli resigned for a job at the University of Miami.

An unexpected dramatic drop in advertising revenue forced job cuts at The Inquirer in January 2007 with more job cuts occurring in February 2008. On August 21, 2007 Philadelphia Media Holdings announced that it was selling The Inquirer Building, a plan Tierney said was planned since Philadelphia Media Holdings bought The Inquirer and Daily News. The Inquier's circulation has been dropping since the 1980s, and except for briefly seeing a rise in weekday circulation in 2007, The Philadelphia Inquirer's weekday and Sunday circulation has continued to steadily drop since Philadelphia Media Holdings bought the paper.

Other activities

Tierney continued his political activism in 1990s and early 2000s by donating to local and national campaigns and headed George W. Bush's outreach to Catholics in the 2000 Presidential Election. Tierney was credited with helping generate votes for Bush and helping him win important states like Ohio and Missouri. Tierney also frequently appeared as a conservative voice on WPVI-TV's Inside Story. In 2003 Tierney headed Sam Katz third campaign for mayor of Philadelphia. Katz lost the election to incumbent mayor John F. Street, but during the campaign Tierney was involved with a highly publicized dispute with Neil Oxman. Oxman was a political consultant and friend of Sam Katz who worked on Katz's 1999 run for mayor. Oxman left Katz's 2003 campaign because he was unable to work with Tierney saying Tierney was a "shameless self-promoter" and "full of bullshit". Katz praised Tierney who he said was full of optimism which Katz said was a great asset when things were going poorly in the campaign and in Katz's personal life.

Tierney is the member of numerous board of directors in the Philadelphia area. He has been on the boards of Thomas Jefferson University, the Zoological Society of Philadelphia and the University Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, among others. A member of the board for NutriSystem, Tierney played an important role in the companies turnaround with the decision to dramatically increase the marketing budget. As a member of the board of the Episcopal Academy, Tierney galvanized the board of directors to buy land in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania and move the school there. In 2001, the school's board of trustees approved the preliminary step of buying 123 acres (49.8 ha) of farmland in Newtown Square. Board members Brian Tierney and Brian O'Neill led a ninety day campaign to raise the US$20 million needed for the property.