MONTREAL – Steve Nixon, executive director of the Saskatchewan Weekly Newspapers Association, was elected president of Newspaper Association Managers during the group’s 96th annual summer conference in Montreal.
Nixon, who has led the Canadian Prairie press association since 2003, has 16 years in newspaper association experience. Although hailing from New Zealand and involved in agriculture, he was also an owner of a commercial printing plant in Australia for 10 years.
Nixon urged conference attendees to continue the drive on the relevance project, a coordinated marketing campaign designed to rebrand state press association ad services and the community newspapers they represent.
“I am concerned about our industry not taking advantage of its existing assets in order to fight back against the social media tidal force that would seek to dismantle top quality, honest journalism in favor of unvetted opinion pieces,” he said. “This, I fear, will weaken the democracy that so many before us fought so hard to create.”
Others elected to leadership positions during the NAM conference were Vice President Beth Bennett, executive director of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, and secretary Laurie Hieb, executive director of the Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. Susan Patterson Plank, executive director of the Iowa Newspaper Association, was elected to serve a three-year term on the NAM Board. Continuing directors are Mark Maassen, executive director of the Missouri Press Association and Brian Allfrey, executive director of the Utah Press Association.
New York Press Association Executive Director Michelle K. Rea becomes immediate past president. Layne Bruce, executive director of the Mississippi Press Association, serves as the organization’s clerk.
Founded in 1923, NAM is a coalition of state, provincial, regional and national North American trade associations serving the newspaper industry.
