Today is the 65th birthday of Suzy Hess, owner/publisher of National Masters News. But she has a birthday gift for all of us — a strong, sophisticated buyer of NMN. The new owner will be Randy Sturgeon, the Brooks Fleet Feet Racing Club majordomo whose comments have appeared on this blog several times. I learned of Randy’s interest in buying NMN several weeks ago from an athlete in California, and I wrote to Randy for confirmation. He graciously owned up to the plans, despite Suzy’s hope to unveil him as owner at the Indy convention at the end of this month. I told Randy that the cat was already out of the bag, and was circulating in California, so why not put the news on the record now instead of letting it seep out as rumor? He assented to this as well. Randy sent me the following note:

Randy Sturgeon, himself a 54-year-old runner, writes:
First off let me say I am very excited about taking over National Masters News. It combines all my passions and experiences, and I cannot think of better thing to do as I retire from my job with the State of California.
Of course my main passions are distance running and track and field. It started when I was a little kid living near Modesto, California, and seeing Peter Snell destroy the best U.S. milers at the California Relays in 1963 and also watching a man named Phil Shinnick who got deprived of a world long jump record because there was no wind gauge on him. I have an extensive background in publishing, writing, advertising, broadcasting, race directing and public relations.
For the last 17 years I have worked for the State of California in the Department of Toxic Substances Control in External Affairs. In my job I wrote and published documents, did community assessments on environmental issues, held public meetings, gave legislative briefings, and performed other duties as assigned, as the saying goes.
NMN is actually not the first magazine with which I have been involved. I was the editor of a small Northern California publication called “The Running Scene” in the early 1980s. The publication struggled and was closed when the owners found they could turn a better profit by concentrating on race promotions. I learned a lot in that time what to do and not to do in running a business.
I have also worked in television and radio from time to time as a color commentator for local running events including the California International Marathon and Golden West Invitational. My journalistic career started as sports editor for my junior college newspaper and as a reporter for the Fairfield Daily Republic.
Then of course I have been a runner and track athlete for over 40 years and have been coaching runners and track athletes for over 30 years. I still do occasional race promotion, race/meet announcing jobs, put on clinics and have even done some commercial acting.
Of course, I am the head coach for Brooks Fleet Feet Racing of Sacramento, one of my main passions in life.

Me again: I earlier posed some questions to Randy:
Do you have a staff in mind for NMN?
My title will be publisher and my editor will be a very sharp and energetic friend, teammate and co-worker Juliet Wahleithner. Juliet has extensive experience in publishing and editing and is also an outstanding runner. She is really excited about achieving a dream come true, to write for a running publication, but is disappointed that she is only 29 and can’t do the master’s national meets yet. But her husband, who is 33, can and will. Juliet is smart, focused and energetic, many things I am not, and that is why I have made her a partner in this venture. For the moment she is the only staff member, but I am talking to other people about filling in some roles.
Some resume info on Juliet:
Currently she is a curriculum coach for Lodi Unified School District working with teachers 7 – 12. She works on instructional strategies reading and practices in writing. Prior to that, she was a classroom teacher for seven years teaching English and honors classes. Also, she taught newspaper and yearbook production. Juliet also works as a Publications and Communications Coordinator for the Great Valley Writing Project for California University Stanislaus.
She began running for fun at 11 in junior high and started competetive running in the fall of 1991 when she ran cross country for Tokay High School and also ran track that following spring. Injuries kept her out of running her senior year. She continued to run for fun in college, doing an occasional road race doing her first one in her senior year. That was the half-marathon at the Davis Stampede in 1999.
At 22, she ran her first marathon at the Napa Marathon and continued to run marathons for the next few years, winning the Silver State Marathon in 2002. She then got serious about competing and now runs for Brooks Fleet Feet Racing in Sacramento, and eventually running a sub-3-hour marathon in December 2005.
Throughout her life, she has always loved to run and has used it as a way to have fun, see new places, and connect with friends.
Would you move production to Sacramento?
Randy: Absolutely! This is my home and where my family and friends are. I love it here and it is a great area for track and field, race walking, distance and ultra running.
Will you tinker with the format?
Yes, but no specifics yet. We do have ideas for some new things but no final decisions have been made yet as to what we will do and when. My first step is to make a smooth transition and continue to serve the loyal NMN readers as best we can.
One of the things I do want to do right off the bat is to survey current subscribers plus ex and non subscribers and see what they have to say. It is of primary importance that we understand just who our current subscribers are and what they are interested in.
That is the foundation. We believe that to expand the readership we need to understand two things: one, if somebody is familiar with the publication, why don’t they subscribe, and two, if they are not familiar with the publication, then why not?
Which features would you retain?
Everything is being evaluated.
Which would you shed?
Same answer as above, but we do intend to put in some new things that we hope will have wider appeal. We have had great discussions with Suzy Hess and the others, and they have given us some ideas for improvement upon what they have built.
How would you market NMN to expand its subscriber base?
The key words are promotion, visibility, involvement and outreach. This has several prongs. One is the website. The website is a key promotional tool and needs be a place where people want to go regularly. Major changes are planned for the website to include weekly info with mini features and training information as well as schedule and event highlights.
We also plan that it will promote articles in upcoming issues of the magazine. We also hope to make key links in the masters world even more prominent and aid advertisers. I plan to, at the extent budget and time will allow, be at events in every region and not just track and field events.
We need to be at major masters events across the spectrum, not only to promote the magazine, but also to lend help and support to the event. There are many other ideas being discussed for both the short and long term.
Are you concerned that Rodale couldn’t make a go of it?
No. I think their interest, needs and objectives with the publication are different. The history is relevant but the results do not give me pause.
Me again:
I’m thrilled by Randy’s professionalism and passion. And I’m grateful that Suzy is putting the newspaper — our community glue and bulletin board — in capable hands. In coming months, I’ll have more to say about how NMN can prosper and prevail. It has a big role to play in the masters movement. Its history is our history. Its future will help determine ours.
Best of luck to Randy and Juliet!