From the Publisher

By Elizabeth Valk Long

One of the most important reports I receive each week is an exact accounting of how many subscriptions the magazine has, how many are new, how many renewals, and many other statistical analyses. These tabulations are the work of Herta Siegrist, TIME's senior financial manager for circulation. She sets the number of copies we print each week and gets the word out to our 10 plants.

I'm tempted to say that Herta, who is celebrating her 30th anniversary with the company, knows everything. I have certainly never seen her caught by surprise. If I need circulation information about Indiana, Herta has it, right down to our one subscriber in Jonesville, Bartholomew County.

She is also one of our more remarkable characters. The circulation department provides many challenging entry-level jobs, and people right out of college get responsibility early on. They also get a taste of Siegrist's discipline. Of a faulty report, she may say, "Garbage in, garbage out." She has overseen the progress of a dozen Time Warner business managers, countless marketing managers and circulation directors. "You could call it beating up or training," says PEOPLE associate publisher Jeremy Koch, who worked in ; circulation early in his career. "It can be years before you grasp her wisdom."

"I'm a street cat," she says. "I'm sassy and fresh to everybody. If you don't hear from me, it means things are fine." She grew up near Munich, Germany, and remembers the privations, the bombings and air-raid scramblings she experienced as a child during World War II. "In our house I was in charge of the cat and the little jewel box," she recalls. At 14, she left school and went to work. " I developed a major curiosity about America," she says. "So I came here and walked into the Time building off the street. I don't know why."

We're glad she did. Says Kelso Sutton, president of the Time Inc. Book Division, who used to work with Siegrist: "She has saved this company millions and millions of dollars by her careful understanding of print orders. And she's made a lot of people look good." Her drive fuels her real avocation: tennis. "I came to it late," she says, "and I can't get enough of it." She's a great doubles partner, but it's good to see her back at her desk, talking animatedly to her computer. I wish I could catch what they're saying, but communication at this level is too rarefied for me.