Star Tribune hires Daily Beast manager as senior VP of consumer growth

The Star Tribune has hired Mary Mayer, who built a subscription system for the national news site the Daily Beast, as its senior vice president of consumer growth.

Before her five years at the Daily Beast, where she also managed product growth, Mayer worked on digital marketing for the mattress technology company Eight Sleep and meal delivery service Blue Apron.

Steve Grove, the Star Tribune’s CEO, said Mayer grew subscriptions at the Daily Beast from roughly 3,500 to 80,000 in a couple of years, and he said that success at an online outlet is important when the Star Tribune is working on changes aimed at being a more modern digital media company.

“Part of the desire to bring in Mary in particular is to get someone who has both media experience ... but also has been at other businesses, too,” Grove said. “Because I think for subscriptions today you’re not just competing against other news outlets, you’re competing against Disney+ and Hulu and the Wine of the Month Club, you name it.”

Grove said no immediate changes to subscriptions are planned, but he said Mayer is being hired “to help us rethink all of it.” He said the Star Tribune is committed to both its digital and print products but that growing digital subscriptions is a focus.

Mayer spent the last decade on the East Coast but is from Minnesota. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and also attended the University of Iowa.

“Local journalism has never mattered more, and I’m so excited to be part of growing it in my home state,” Mayer said.

Mayer is the latest in a string of hires for senior positions at the Star Tribune. In November, the company announced Stephanie Ness, who came from Target Corp., as chief financial officer and Chris Iles, who previously worked for the Minnesota Twins, as vice president for brand and communications. Media industry veteran Aron Pilhofer started in January as chief product officer.