Dear LMA members,

Look at any company’s board of directors and you will learn a lot about that organization. 

At Local Media Association and Local Media Foundation, we pride ourselves on attracting innovative and strategic thought leaders from a diverse mix of local media organizations across North America. We value diversity in all forms, including race/ethnicity, geography, media type, and subject-matter expertise. 

Many years ago, our culture transitioned to one of risk-taking and experimentation. That’s a credit to the boards of directors who not only support this culture, but encourage it. 

Our 2024 boards of directors reflect this mindset, especially our executive leadership.

Tom Shaw, chief product officer, Shaw Media, has begun his term as chair of the LMA board in 2024. Other 2024 officers are:

  • First Vice Chair: Janis Ware, publisher, The Atlanta Voice.
  • Second Vice Chair: Liz White, consultant, RJPC, Inc., former publisher/owner of the Record-Journal, Meriden, Connecticut.
  • Treasurer: Eric Barnes, chief executive officer, The Daily Memphian.
  • Secretary: Tracy Brown, chief content officer , Chicago Public Media.
  • Catherine Badalamente, chief executive officer, Graham Media Group, will serve as Immediate Past Chair.

Shaw represents the sixth generation of Shaw Media. His family was involved with LMA from the very early days, when the organization was named Suburban Newspapers Association. At this critical time in our industry, it’s great to have Tom’s steady leadership.

Next in line are Ware and White, two powerful female leaders in our industry. Barnes represents digital news sites on our executive leadership team and Brown represents public media. We round it out with Badalamente, who served as board chair for the last two years, as our broadcast champion. 

The LMF board of directors is chaired in 2024 by Larry Lee, publisher/owner, The Sacramento Observer. Other 2024 officers are:

  • First Vice Chair: Tanisha Leonard, president, Pitch Black.
  • Treasurer: Tom Shaw, chief product officer, Shaw Media.
  • Secretary: Catherine Badalamente, chief executive officer, Graham Media Group.
  • Erica Smith, managing editor for digital, Times Union, Albany, New York, will serve as Immediate Past Chair.

Lee, a founding shareholder of Word In Black, recently received publisher of the year and newspaper of the year recognition from National Newspaper Publishing Association. He quadrupled the size of his staff over the past two years and is the perfect choice to run LMF at this time. Leonard brings tremendous advertising and marketing expertise to the executive committee. Shaw serves as treasurer, by virtue of being LMA board chair, per our bylaws that require LMA oversight of LMF financials. Badalamente moves into the chairs of LMF for continuity, which is especially important as she has overseen our 5-year succession plan. Smith, who just finished a fantastic term as board chair, moves into the immediate past chair role. 

Five new directors were also elected — two for the LMA board and three for the LMF board:

LMA board:

  • Stephanie Slagle, vice president and chief innovation officer, Graham Media Group
  • Ken Doctor, chief executive officer and founder, Lookout Local

LMF board:

  • Tim Franklin, senior associate dean, John M. Mutz Chair in Local News, Medill School, Northwestern University
  • Tom Sly, vice president, digital revenue, The E.W. Scripps Co.
  • Leo Cusimano, publisher and owner, Dallas Voice

Doctor further strengthens our commitment to digital news sites, and has a long track record as an industry thought leader. Slagle moves over from the LMF board, where she has made an enormous impact, and joins five other broadcasters on the LMA board. 

Franklin represents the first board member from the academic world, which fills an important void. Sly moves over to the LMF board, after serving on the LMA executive committee for six years — including a pivotal year as board chair in 2021 — for continuity purposes. Cusimano is the first board member from the LGBTQ+ press; he is a founding member of News Is Out – Queer Media Collaborative. 

As we look at the diverse makeup of our boards, we couldn’t be more pleased. Female representation remains very strong at 55% (17 of 31 directors) of the two boards combined, and people of color represent 29%. Newspapers represent 42%; broadcasters 26%; digital news organizations 13%; R&D partners 13%; academic 3%; other 3%. For full lists of board members visit the LMA board and LMF board pages.

Could we do better? Of course. We’re especially looking for executives from broadcast and digital news organizations who are interested in our work to join the board. We’re strong on the advertising, business, content and product side, but could use more expertise in areas such as technology and audience. If you know anyone, or are interested yourself, please let us know (contact co-CEO Jay Small at jay.small@localmedia.org). 

Congratulations to our new directors and officers. The two boards will be in Austin next week to conduct business and meet with a wide variety of industry thought leaders. If there is anything you want us to put on the agenda, just reach out to Jay and let us know.

Sincerely,

Nancy Lane
Co-CEO, Local Media Association and Local Media Foundation