Nancy Lane

Lane is the dynamic leader of Local Media Association, a thriving and innovative organization that works with over 2,800 local media brands (newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, digital news sites & more), as well as several hundred R&D partners in the industry. LMA’s mission is to help local media companies discover, vet and test business models that will support news.

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.

LMA assists media companies with digital and cultural transformation via cutting-edge programs, conferences, webinars, research, experiential opportunities & training. Lane is  the author of numerous industry reports over the past few years on a wide variety of subjects. She blogs about disruptive innovation on a regular basis and is a sought-after speaker at media events in North America and Europe.

Lane’s top focus areas for 2020 are: the launch of three news collaboratives, that also focus on business transformation; three funds that have collectively raised $1.9MM to date – the fund for local journalism, the fund for Black journalism and the COVID-19 local news relief fund; the launch of the Center for Journalism Funding including a lab with 15 publishers and The Branded Content Project with 24 beta partners.

She has developed LMA into one of the most progressive and forward-thinking media associations in the world.

Lane spent 13 years in the newspaper industry as publisher, ad director and senior level executive in Pa., Conn. and Mo. before taking over LMA in 2000.

She is also the Immediate Past President of the Villanova University Alumni Association.

Steve Baron

Steve Baron is Chief Strategy Officer of the Local Media Association and focuses on building new business models to sustain local journalism.

From helping legacy media companies adapt to emerging digital platforms to working with digital-only startups, Baron bridges editorial, revenue, and business needs to develop solutions to the industry’s most pressing issues.

A journalist at heart, Baron, started his career as a broadcast meteorologist and news reporter, winning an Emmy™ for breaking news coverage and working at many local TV stations across the U.S. before pivoting to digital leadership in 2008, joining private equity-funded Local TV, LLC, as VP/Digital Content, working with 21 TV stations in 16 cities.

Baron then joined Tribune Media as part of Tribune’s $2.73 billion purchase of Local TV, LLC, and held escalating positions at Tribune Media, eventually landing as VP/Digital and Head of Product, responsible for all customer-facing digital strategy and operations of Tribune Media.

In 2019 Baron joined Nexstar Media Group as part of the $6.4 billion sale of Tribune Media to Nexstar and led the digital integration of the two companies.

Steve is a graduate of the University of Florida with a B.S. in Telecommunication News and additional studies in Environmental Sciences, along with a Broadcast Meteorology Certification from Mississippi State University.

Frank Mungeam

Frank Mungeam is Chief Innovation Officer for the Local Media Association, which works with over 3,000 local media brands (newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, digital news sites & more), as well as several hundred R&D partners in the industry. LMA’s mission is to help local media companies develop sustainable business models for news.

Mungeam leads LMA’s Center for Journalism Funding, focused on developing philanthropic and collaborative models for supporting local journalism. Prior to joining LMA in September 2020, Mungeam was Knight Professor of Practice in TV News Innovation at ASU’s Cronkite School of Journalism. At ASU, he worked with Cronkite News students and faculty on news story and format innovations; coached cohorts of local TV broadcasters in the Table Stakes performance-driven transformation model; and published innovation case studies via the Cronkite News Lab. Previously, Mungeam was VP of Digital Content for TEGNA’s portfolio of local broadcast stations and news websites. His extensive media experience includes radio, print, TV production and digital.

Mungeam has a bachelor’s degree from Harvard and a master’s degree in Leadership and Communication from Gonzaga, and is a frequent speaker and writer on news transformation, innovation, and leadership. Mungeam lives on a floating home in Portland, Oregon and is the proud author of one son and two books, including Dream It, Do It, which profiles the repeatable habits of successful innovators.

Jay Small

Jay Small is Chief Operating Officer of Local Media Association. He helps guide and oversee key LMA programs serving the local media industry, including conferences, Innovation Missions and other events; Chief Digital Clubs and Chief Content Clubs; R&D initiatives; and enabling technology and content platforms.

He previously served as President of Cordillera Digital, a division of Cordillera Communications that drove digital strategy, sales, marketing, and operations for TV stations nationwide. A transformative executive with a background in business leadership and creative arts, Small held senior posts at The E.W. Scripps Co., Belo Corp., and Thomson Consumer Electronics. He has also driven digital growth as a strategic consultant, with clients including major media groups, trade associations, a global pharmaceuticals company, financial institutions and small businesses.

Small earned an MBA from Kennesaw State University and a bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science from Southern Illinois University. A guitar enthusiast, he enjoys performing in rock/blues bands.

Julia Campbell

Julia is a branded content strategist and innovative project manager who is leading a combined initiative focused on branded content for the Local Media Association, Local Media Consortium, and the Facebook Journalism Project. A former Gray Television executive with extensive branded content experience, Campbell is leading a group of 29 broadcasters, print, and digital publishers who are testing out promising business models. The ultimate goal is to report back to the industry and provide playbooks that publishers can use to succeed and grow revenue in their local markets.

Campbell spent nearly a decade at Gray Television, previously as vice president of media systems, where she created MomsEveryday, an award-winning television, digital, social and OTT branded content initiative focused on helping local businesses connect with families across the country while creating profitability for the TV stations. In addition to extensive branding experience, Campbell is familiar with the challenges and opportunities of local news, having served in director and editor positions at a number of local and national TV stations, including CNN. Her media career has crossed through some of the smallest of markets, like Casper, Wyoming, to some of the largest such as Atlanta. Campbell earned her bachelor of science in journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Lindsey Leisher Estes

Lindsey Estes has a strong background in marketing and social media and spent five years working for the Newspaper Association of America. While at NAA, she specialized in helping smaller-market publishers and organizing the annual mediaXchange conference. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia Tech.

Emilie Lutostanski

Emilie Lutostanski is the director of LMA’s Local News Resource Center, a partnership with Facebook, Instagram and CrowdTangle. She collaborates with local media organizations to refine social media strategies, discover and share industry successes, and support the adoption of new social tools.

Emilie has helped nonprofits, businesses and newsrooms strategize captivating content and heighten audience engagement through social media for more than ten years. Previously she led digital product development, enhancement, and monetization strategies, online content innovation, and extensive training as Community Impact Newspaper Company’s first digital product manager. She oversaw a complete website redesign and content shift that led to record-breaking traffic, engagement and sales.

In 2017, she accepted four awards from LMA’s 2017 Digital Innovation Competition, including best social media strategy and best local news strategy. Last year she was named to Editor and Publisher Magazine’s 25 under 35 professionals in the industry.

Emilie is a graduate of Texas State University – San Marcos with a bachelor of arts degree in journalism. She has experience working in radio and newspaper newsrooms including as a reporter, editor, community manager, managing editor, and producer. She volunteers as a board member and marketing director for the nonprofit Austin Humanists at Work.

Camryn Allen

Janice Norman

Janice has been LMA’s Director of Accounting and Finance since September 2001. Her previous accounting positions included, Accounting Supervisor, Senior Accountant, and Budget Analyst. She has experience in banking, legal, travel, property management, and transportation industries.

Janice received a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration with an Accounting and Finance Specialty from Lawrence Technological University.

She enjoys spending time with her family, especially her new grandson, the outdoors, gardening and the lakes of Northern Michigan.  Janice has also volunteered her accounting services to various organizations through the years.

Peter Lamb

LAMB Consulting

Tonya Ratajczak

Tonya is the Data Entry Specialist for Local Media Association. In addition to the upkeep and maintenance of the LMA database for membership and events, she also assists in day-to-day LMA accounting duties.

Her professional background includes database management, e-marketing and communications, record-keeping and photography.

A graduate of the University of Michigan (GO BLUE!), she is an active mother of four. Blessed to be living in the beauty that is northern Michigan, she enjoys boating with her family and friends, singing for the church, dabbling in piano and guitar, and relaxing with a good book.

Nick Charles

Nick Charles is a writer, editor, and communications executive who has worked for local and national media including NBC News, The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio, People magazine, and AOL Black Voices. Charles has extensive expertise in communications across multiple industries and says he aims to use his skill set to preserve the Fourth Estate.

Jim Brady

Jim Brady is the founder and CEO of Spirited Media, a mobile-focused local news startup.

Jim has spent almost 20 years in digital news, working in both digital-only and legacy operations, and has the gray, thinning hairline to prove it. He came to the digital world in April 1995 as sports editor of Digital Ink, the Washington Post’s first new media effort. He was on the core team that launched washingtonpost.com in June 1996 and has been a sucker for all things digital ever since.

Along the way, Jim has served as executive editor of washingtonpost.com, general manager of the now-deceased TBD.com, editor-in-chief of Digital First Media and in various executive roles at America Online.

During Jim’s tenure as executive editor of washingtonpost.com, the site won a national Emmy award for its Hurricane Katrina coverage, a Peabody Award for its “Being a Black Man” series, an Editor & Publisher award for Best Overall Newspaper-Affiliated Web Site, two Digital Edge awards for Best Overall News Site, a Knight-Batten Award for Innovations in Journalism, two Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Awards, four Edward R. Murrow Awards for Best Non-Broadcast Affiliated Web Site, and more than 100 White House News Photographers video awards.

At Digital First Media, Jim was the editor overseeing 75 daily newspapers, 292 non-daily publications and 341 online sites. He also oversaw the conception. launch and — eventually — the demise of Project Thunderdome, a centralized digital innovation hub that produced high-quality news products for DFM properties.

At TBD, Jim built a local news operation dedicated to comprehensive coverage of the Washington, D.C. region that combined the values of traditional journalism and the power of citizen journalism. As general manager of TBD, he was responsible for the business operations and editorial oversight of both TBD.com and TBD TV, a 24-hour local cable news station.

During Jim’s four-plus years at America Online, he served as Group Programming Director, News & Sports; Executive Director, Editorial Operations; and Vice President, Production & Operations. During his time at AOL, Brady was in charge of the service’s coverage of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 2000 presidential election.

Jim is also a Past President of the Online News Association, where he’s been a board member since 2005. He also serves on the boards of the American Society of News Editors and the National Press Foundation, on the National Advisory Board of the Poynter Institute and on the advisory boards of GlobalPost, Kaiser Health News, The American University School of Communication and the Fiscal Times.

Brady earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Print Journalism from The American University in 1989. Born in Queens, N.Y. and raised in Huntington, N.Y., he lives with his wife, Joan, and two stubborn beagles in Great Falls, Va.

In his spare time, Jim likes to rant on Twitter about the New York Jets, drinks an ungodly amount of Diet Pepsi, listens to Rush and, according to Philadelphia Magazine, wears Dad jeans.

Sam Cholke

Sam Cholke is an award-winning journalist and media manager based in Chicago, Ill.

Currently, he is the project director of the Solving for Chicago nonprofit, an ambitious collaboration among 20 newsrooms to create impactful journalism on pressing topics and improve the financial sustainability of the outlets involved in the project.

Prior to joining LMA, he lead the largest conference on community engagement in journalism in the country and fellowships with ProPublica Illinois, the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and other newsrooms as program manager for media and journalism with Illinois Humanities.

As a journalist, he has worked on assignment for the Washington Post, the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Magazine and other publications. He was part of the founding team of DNAinfo Chicago and has appeared on local and national radio programs as an expert on the South Side of Chicago.

Originally from Rockford, Ill., he now lives on the South Side of Chicago with his family.

Brooke Warner

LMA Consultant

Having passionately dedicated her 25+ year career to helping local and niche media thrive, Brooke is an award-winning Internet pioneer and media transformation thought leader always on the lookout for trends and market opportunities to build revenue models, and create significant audience wins. She’s worked in markets of all sizes, rolled up her sleeves with individual SMBs, been instrumental to the success of a handful of early stage start-ups, and has had the distinct pleasure of working strategically with some major brands such as Red Bull, Adidas, and Shark Week for Discovery. She has ecommerce experience with Amazon sales optimization and advertising, and has been a prolific content producer of every type including news, online media, television programming, OTT, and feature films. Brooke firmly believes that local media health and community health go hand in hand.

Terese Kartholl