Good morning, Broadsheet readers. At General Motors, there’s always something about Mary. Plus, the NBA gets its first full-time female assistant coach.
EVERYONE'S TALKING
• Gannett says goodbye to USA Today. The media conglomerate, which owns USA Today and 81 other newspapers, announced plans to separate its broadcast and digital businesses from its publishing division. Gannett CEO Gracia Martore said in a statement that the move signals an effort to strengthen "all of our businesses to compete effectively in today’s increasingly digital landscape." Martore, No. 35 on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list, will helm the company's smaller broadcasting and digital unit, which includes nearly 50 television stations and digital enterprises like Cars.com and the online job site CareerBuilder. Fortune
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
• Becky Hammon shatters the NBA's glass ceiling. The San Antonio Spurs announced yesterday that Hammon, a six-time WNBA all-star, will become an assistant coach. After finishing up her 16th season as a player, Hammon will become the first full-time female assistant coach in the NBA. Other women have held coaching positions in the NBA before, but either on a volunteer or part-time basis. Fortune
• Hillary Clinton sneaks onto Colbert Report. The former Secretary of State didn’t speak about any plans for 2016, but she did challenge host Stephen Colbert to an amusing game of name-dropping to decide who has more famous friends. Time
• The secret to Megyn Kelly's success? No matter how you feel about the Fox News anchor, there is no question that her career is skyrocketing. Politico's Hadas Gold dove into exactly what makes Kelly tick and found that her "lower tolerance for being fed incoherent tripe from her own side than the average cable news TV host" plays a large role in her rise. Politico
• Marvel blames sequels for lack of women in star roles. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in an interview that he'd like to build a new franchise centered on a female character, but he currently doesn't have the resources. Marvel puts out only a few movies a year, and Feige said that creating a new franchise would require the studio to put sequels for an existing franchise on hold. Slate
• Diversity at top law firms for women reaches new highs. Women represent 24% of executive committee members at the best law firms for women, according to an annual list conducted by Working Mother Magazine and Flex-Time Lawyers. The average maternity leave for firms on the list is 15 months and 84% of the firms offer sick child care. Bloomberg
• MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Ex-Qualcomm executive Peggy Johnson is now head of business development for Microsoft.
BROADVIEW
There is more than one Mary solving problems at GM
General Motors CEO Mary Barra has become the face of the company's car recall that has grown to nearly 30 million vehicles, but she's not the only senior woman working to make the company's products safer.
Mary Chan, president of GM's global connected consumer unit, oversees efforts to keep drivers safe and secure through GM's subscription-based communication service, OnStar. This summer, GM began deploying its in-vehicle OnStar 4G LTE service, a move that will turn GM’s cars into their very own Wi-Fi hotspots.
The feature has the potential to give drivers better information about their cars, but it also may equip the automaker with more data to detect problems with GM vehicles out on the road. It's too soon to say exactly how GM's advanced OnStar service will make the driving experience more safe, but Chan is committed to figuring it out.
Click over to Fortune.com to read my full story about Mary Chan.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
• Less than one-third of Americans think it's ideal to have a sole male breadwinner. Public support for women earning their own money has reached an all-time high, according to the Council on Contemporary Families. Between 2006 and 2012, the number of people who thought it was ideal for men to be the only family earners has dropped dramatically. Salon
• The "mommy penalty" grows for unmarried moms. The earnings gap between married and unmarried working moms is widening, according to a Columbia University study. Researchers believe that one factor may be that married moms are receiving more at-home help from their husbands. Slate
• 10 reasons why women should work in software engineering. Alaina Percival, the CEO of Women Who Code, outlines some compelling reasons why more women should consider becoming engineers. My favorite: The career can be fulfilling for those who like to constantly learn new things. WSJ
ON MY RADAR
Why is men's basketball so good at promoting women? Slate
Why women make better investors Fast Company
How to be friends with another woman HuffPost
Meet the woman behind the $15.4 billion Wells Fargo-Wachovia merger BizWomen
Men's business is saving Coach Fortune
The Bachelor is sexist and needs to go Vox
QUOTE
It’s tough being a CEO, period. Male or female. We each get our own advantages and drawbacks, and we should all try to play the best out of the cards we’ve been dealt. I would just recommend not overplaying the 'woman' card, though, as it can backfire. You want people to picture you as the CEO, not as the 'woman CEO'.
Mathilde Collin, the CEO of email app Frontapp, tells the <em>WSJ</em> why gender barely matters when it comes to being a CEO.
