NNA Foundation officers elected

Nov 28, 2012

A new slate of officers was elected to lead the National Newspaper Association Foundation during the NNA convention in Charleston, SC.
Elected president was Elizabeth Parker, executive editor and co-publisher of New Jersey Hills Media Group in Bernardsville, NJ, and as vice president, Jerry Reppert, president of Reppert Publications, Anna, IL. William Miller Sr., publisher of the Washington Missourian, remains on the board as treasurer.
The election also named several new directors: Reed Anfinson, publisher of the Swift County (MN) Monitor News, serving by designation as NNA immediate past president; and Steve Haynes, president of Haynes Publishing Co., Oberlin, KS. NNA President Merle Baranczyk, president of Arkansas Valley Publishing, Salida, CO, sits as ex-officio. Also continuing to serve are Larry Atkinson, president of Bridge City Publishing Inc., Mobridge, SD; Allen Beermann, executive director of Nebraska Press Association, Lincoln, NE; R. Jack Fishman, president of Lakeway Publishing, Morristown, TN; Edmund Ghareeb, university professor and media analyst, Bethesda, MD; Kenneth H. Rhoades, co-publisher of Enterprise Publishing Co., Blair, NE; and Robert F. Sweeney, publisher and editor of Villager Newspapers, Denver, CO.
Alan Cruikshank, publisher of the Fountain Hills (AZ) Times, was unanimously elected as honorary board member for his long-time service to the board.
Parker succeeds Peter Wagner, publisher of the N’West Iowa REVIEW, Sheldon, IA, who stepped down because of time conflicts.
“We cannot thank Peter Wagner enough for all his contributions to community journalism and, specifically, to our organization over the years,” Parker said.
“His ideas, his vision, his energy have served as beacons for us over many decades—from his marketing and sales ideas in Pub Aux, to his unparalleled fundraising exhortations at conventions to his thoughtful analysis of the issues, trends and challenges in the business today. He has been a remarkable leader. We are hopeful his considerable and ongoing time constraints and commitments will allow him to stay involved with NNA and NNAF, which have been made so much better because of him.”
Parker said the foundation board unanimously agreed that new programs must be developed to bring the importance of community newspapers into the foreground. It adopted a plan to develop a news fellows program to coincide with the We Believe in Newspapers Leadership Conference March 14-15 in Washington. Grants from state associations to fund college journalism students as fellows in the program will be sought and community journalism mentors will be matched with them to provide guidance on how to gather news stories in Washington, where a constant brew of fact and opinion compete for public attention.
Contributions to the program may be sent to NNAF in care of Bill Miller, P.O. Box 336, Washington, MO 63090-0336.