In a special moment on Day 1 of LMA Fest 2025, attendees took a moment to celebrate Local Media Association CEO Emeritus Nancy Lane on her 25 years with LMA.

In celebration of Nancy’s milestone, a video was played with remarks and reminiscing from several friends.

Lane was born and raised in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and started her career at the News of Delaware County as an advertising sales executive. For more than 12 years she worked for Goodson Newspapers and its successor Journal Register Company, first as advertising director of The Germantown Courier and The Coatesville Record and then as publisher of The Phoenix (Phoenixville), The Mercury (Pottstown), and the Daily Local News (West Chester). She was also publisher of The Register Citizen (Torrington, Ct.) and vice president and general manager of the Suburban Journals of St. Louis during that time.

Upon leaving Journal Register Company in 2000, Lane took the top leadership role at LMA (then Suburban Newspapers of America) and served as the organization’s chief executive officer for nearly 25 years. She is now in the role of CEO emeritus as part of a well-planned, five-year succession plan. Under her leadership, some of the most important industry initiatives launched: Word in Black (led by 10 of the nation’s iconic Black publishers), LMA Covering Climate Collaborative (with 40+ news, science and academic partners), News is Out – a Queer Media Collaboration, The Branded Content Project (over $100 million sold to date), the Lab for Journalism Funding (over $30 million raised to date), the Local News Fund (over $20 million raised for journalism projects) and dozens of other initiatives. She is a champion for underrepresented media, industry collaboration, journalism funded by philanthropy and press freedom. 

She is a past president of the Villanova University Alumni Association and now serves on the dean’s advisory council for the college of liberal arts and sciences. She lives in St Augustine and Jacksonville Beach, Florida, with her husband, Dr. Shawn Burton, and their adorable dog Hugo.

As is fitting for such a celebration, an appreciative audience gave Nancy a standing ovation.