John Cowles III

Named chairman of the board of Cowles Media Co. in August 1993 and is a voting trustee. He had been vice-chairman since 1991. Before joining the company as director of planning in 1985, he was the treasurer of a satellite communications company in New York for two years. He received a B.A. in government and an MBA from Harvard University in 1983. In the mid-1970s, he studied anthropology, then bought and ran a printing company in Arizona. His interests include city development, the arts and is chairman and former CEO of the Women's Professional Fast Pitch softball league. He sits on the boards of the Guthrie Theater, Capital City and Riverfront development corporations and the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. His wife, Page Knudsen Cowles, a Seattle native, is a former broker. She is a co-founder and co-owner of Hungry Mind Press, led the steering committee for the F. Scott Fitzgerald 100th-anniversary celebration in St. Paul in 1996 and is a community and school volunteer. She is a graduate of Yale University and of Harvard Business School. She and Jay have three children.