Here are the people who will guide the development, operation and growth of Accelerate Local.

Nancy Lane: “The local media company of the future will look very different than it does today. Only those companies that are willing to think and act like disruptors will survive. Accelerate Local is an ambitious undertaking designed to tackle future business models in new and exciting ways. We’re talking about big and bold ideas that have yet to be vetted and tested. We’re out to change the trajectory of the local media industry and ensure a bright future for local news.”

Nancy Lane, LMA’s president, understands the challenges better than most. She spent the last 19 years helping local media companies with their transformation strategies. She is the 2019 recipient of the Borrell Award of Merit, presented each year to an executive who has done the most to foster innovation in the local media industry. Prior to joining LMA in 2000, she was a publisher at numerous Journal Register Co. newspapers over a span of 8.5 years, running operations as large as $50 million.

Jay Small: Gone are the days when local media proprietors could add a niche special section, or a half-hour to the newscast lineup, and check the innovation box. Our industry needs new paths to a vigorous future. I know of no better way to find them than the formula LMA has set out with Accelerate Local.

Jay Small, LMA’s chief operating officer, should know. He has led digital businesses, operations and development for media companies including Cordillera Communications, The E.W. Scripps Co., Belo Corp., Central Newspapers, and Thomson Consumer Electronics. In every case, Small says, he guided attempts at innovation and new business models under all kinds of frameworks and processes.

“If nothing else, I learned what not to do and how not to do it, and that’s a big part of finding new paths that might just lead us somewhere great.”

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