New York City -
The Huntzberger family has announced that the long time CEO of Huntzberger Publishing Group (HPG), Mitchum Huntzberger, has taken a medical leave of absence from the company, turning control over to his daughter in-law Lorelai Leigh (Rory) Gilmore Huntzberger, wife to Doctor Logan Huntzberger of Columbia Presbyterian Hospital.
Most recently working as a writer and assistant editor for The New York Times, Rory Huntzberger comes to HPG with a degree in English and Journalism from Yale University, where she assumed the role of Editor of the Yale Daily News. Following her graduation in 2007, Rory worked as a reporter on the presidential campaign trail with President Barack Obama before traveling the world as a freelance writer.
Not being a stranger to HPG or the Huntzberger family, Rory worked with CEO Mitchum Huntzberger as an intern at the Stamford Eagle Gazette during its acquisition, and is excited to be welcomed back to the fold by several of her former editors.
In her free time, Rory enjoys traveling back to the small town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut where she grew up, and spending time with family, including her two younger sisters. Rory is the daughter of Lorelai Gilmore Danes and Luke Danes of Stars Hollow Ct. and Christopher Hayden of Boston, Ma. Granddaughter of Richard and Emily Gilmore and Strobe and Francine Hayden, of Hartford, Ct.
In a company press conference where the changes in leadership were announced, Honor Huntzberger Rothschild, eldest child of Mitchum and Shira Huntzberger, described her new sister in-law, Rory, as "the perfect example of selfless integrity". Having known Rory for 12 years, Honor stated that she is super excited to work with her new sister in-law as she takes on the very challenging role of CEO, saying "I love Rory so much, and I believe with all of my heart that she has this company's absolute best interest at the forefront of her heart and mind" and that Rory is the "perfect person" to step into her father's role. "Rory is always super positive, and goes out of her way to help anyone who might need it . . . She is such a sweet person both inside and out, and she leads by example."
When asked about his wife's new role in the family, Logan Huntzberger stated "I couldn't possibly be any more excited or prouder of my wife. She has worked her whole life for an opportunity like this, and we are all very lucky to have her. Rory is an incredible asset to the team, and if anyone can move this company forward, it's her." Both Logan Huntzberger and Honor Rothschild plan to be on hand for several weeks during Rory's transition to HPG, and are looking forward to another successful year for the company.
Currently, Huntzberger Publishing Group owns 327 newspapers throughout the United States and 100 overseas, with plans to expand to a total of 500 in the next year. They also own several online newspapers, as well as a smaller book publishing subsidiary.
"I like it! It gives the readers something but nothing, all at the same time." Logan said, reading over the article Rory had just finished writing.
"Exactly! Here is a small bit of information about me that you can find by doing any web search, and not a single ounce of anything else." Rory agreed.
"It states the facts, and has quotes from both Honor and I. And my favorite part is that it is very noninvasive."
"I want to keep our private life private."
"It's perfect Ace! I'll get this submitted to the server while you get ready to go. We have to leave for dinner in twenty minutes."
"Have you decided if we are staying here tonight, or driving back to New York?"
"I think we are going to drive back tonight. We have a lot going on tomorrow. As long as we leave your grandparents' by 10, we should make it back by midnight."
"What time is our first appointment in the morning?"
"8:00 at the hospital. We have to meet with Dad's care team, then I need to stop by HR and get you added to all my work stuff."
"What stuff?"
"Just the emergency contact, insurance, 401-k, all of that."
"You'll need our marriage license for all of that, and probably my social security card and ID."
"And you need to decide what you are going to do about last names because if you decide to make any changes, you'll need to go to the social security office and the DMV."
"Getting married is kind of a pain in the ass, isn't it?!"
"Some parts can be. But the rest is pretty good so far, right?"
"I don't know, you tend to leave dirty socks everywhere."
"Ok perfect one! Maybe I should have just married someone that can actually cook."
"You probably should have." Rory laughed as she changed her clothes. "We would eat out a lot less."
"Yeah, but we're too busy to actually cook. Think about it, in the last two weeks, how many days have we actually been at home?"
"In the last week? None! In the last two weeks, I think maybe one."
"Exactly! Which makes a wife who can cook entirely overrated! I'll just hire a chef when we find a house. It'll make our lives a lot easier."
"We need to figure out a schedule."
"I'm not sure that is possible right now."
"At least we finally get to spend one night in our own bed."
"Which is something else that we need to decide on. Which apartment are we keeping until we get a house?"
"I would probably go with yours. It's bigger and closer to both the office and the hospital."
"I'll ask Honor if she will supervise movers. We can just have all your clothes and anything you need right away moved into my place, and then everything else we can put in storage until we find a house."
"Or we just move my clothes and whatever we need right away ourselves and leave the rest for when we get a house and just move everything all at once."
"I guess that works too. I was just thinking that it might save us money to just let the apartment go now."
"Either way I have to buy out the rest of my lease."
"Well HPG is paying you enough, it shouldn't be a problem."
"That is very true. We'll figure it out later. We have a lot of decisions to make this week."
"Well hopefully we can get it all figured out in the next 48 hours so we can make the flight to London. We have that meeting setup for Wednesday morning."
"We picked a really inconvenient time to get married."
"Says the woman who announced Thursday night that she wanted to run off and get married, two days after getting engaged. Apparently two rings weren't good enough for you, you just HAD to have three of them!"
"Says the irresponsible man who called Daddy's pilot!"
"We should probably learn to not be each other's bad influence."
"Or maybe you should learn to not be an enabler." Rory said as she slid her feet into her shoes. "Are you ready?"
"I can't believe you just called me an enabler." Logan said as he shut down Rory's laptop and packed it up to leave.
"Prove to me that you aren't."
"I might be an enabler, but you secretly love that I'm am."
"I might, but we should still probably work on that." Rory said, then turned and headed out of the room with Logan following right behind her.
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7:00pm
Gilmore Residence
Hartford, Connecticut
"Hi Grandma! Hey Grandpa! Thank you so much for having us!" Rory said as she walked into the living room with Logan right behind her, to see Emily and Richard already having drinks with Lorelai and Luke.
"Hello newlyweds! Thank you for coming! You brought the pictures you promised us, right?"
"We've got pictures and a video." Logan told them. "We are sorry we took off without telling anyone. It has just already been 12 years, and waiting another 6 months or so until my dad is doing better just seemed like way too long. And had I handled things better back at Yale, we would have already been married 8 years ago."
"We understand. Thank you for the apology though." Emily told him.
"Grandma, we hope you and Mom will still plan a big party for after Mitchum is better. We are so sorry we infringed on your plans. I know how much the big fancy wedding means to you."
"I imagine you two will have to release some kind of statement through HPG." Richard commented.
"Already taken care of. That introduction article you wanted Rory to write, is being published tomorrow morning. We planned it perfectly so that HPG has the exclusive, and everyone else can pick it up on the AP wire tomorrow after the papers have already been delivered." Logan told them.
"That is deviously perfect!" Lorelai told them.
"I thought so too! Rory is a genius!" Logan agreed.
"So what does the article say?"
"Absolutely nothing that you can't find in a simple google search." Rory answered. "I introduced myself and kept my private life private. There aren't any details about anything."
"Nice! Do we get to read the article before it comes out?"
"Give me about ten seconds, then you can all check your e-mail." Logan said, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "I am sending it to you right now."
"Hey, look, I've got email!" Lorelai said excitedly as her phone beeped to life.
"Mom, you get so excited over the smallest things." Rory told her.
"Richard, will you read it out loud please?" Emily asked.
"As you wish Emily." Richard told her, then began to read the article to the family.
"I love how you gave everyone absolutely nothing!" Lorelai told her. "That takes talent!"
"Right?! I gave them nothing that isn't readily available on google. I'm sick of people thinking that my personal life is their play space. I'm ready to have a nice quiet life again."
"Rory, that is a perfectly informative article. Great job!" Richard told her.
"I had no idea that HPG owned so many papers. Richard, did you know?" Emily asked.
"I knew it was a lot, but never knew an actual number."
"I might have gotten that number from a spreadsheet with contact information for every publication." Rory told them.
"If it makes you all feel better, the last count I knew was over 250. I obviously haven't kept track either." Logan told them.
"So did you come up with the 500 goal yourself?" Lorelai asked.
"No, that has been the company goal for a while. Dad has been adding around 25 new papers a year. Not all of them are big publications."
"It sounds like Rory has her work cut out for her."
"It's going to be a lot. But Honor is going to travel with Rory, so she won't be alone. Honor will basically be Rory's assistant on the road, and Doyle will be back in the office working. It gives Honor a chance to learn the business a little bit, and lightens the load for both Rory and Doyle. It's a win all the way around." Logan told them.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Gilmore, dinner is ready." a maid said stepping into the room, then quietly leaving.
"Oh excellent! Let's head to the dining room." Emily suggested. "The sooner we eat, the sooner we can have dessert and watch your wedding video."
"Have you guys decided where you are going to live?" Lorelai asked as everyone headed for the dining room.
"Kind of. Or at least temporarily." Rory answered. "I am going to move into Logan's apartment since it is bigger and closer to both the office and the hospital, while we look for a house."
"So you are going to buy a house in the city?" Emily asked.
"It makes sense to live there." Logan told her. "We would love to live closer to Hartford, but being a doctor, it's not realistic for me. I can't be commuting an hour or two when I get paged to come in. I need to be within minutes of the hospital. But you are all welcome to come visit us whenever you would like to. We may not be able to come visit a lot, at least for the next several months, but that doesn't mean that we don't want you to come see us. We will be getting a big enough home that everyone is welcome to visit at any time."
"Have you thought of what kind of house you want to find?"
"Not really. We are going to look at a few places tomorrow. All different styles. We'll see what is available and go from there."
"We are looking at one in Honor's neighborhood, right?" Rory asked.
"We are. There are a few houses available in that neighborhood, so we are going to check them out. Being close to Honor would be nice."
"And convenient for shopping." Lorelai added, with a wink in Rory's direction. "I might have to come visit a lot if you live by her."
"Maybe we should move to Honor's neighborhood. It will more than triple your wardrobe with your mom coming up all the time." Logan said nudging Rory.
"That is a good point." Rory agreed. "We'll see what happens."