Nancy Lane is awarded Borrell Award of Merit

Nancy Lane

Nancy Lane, president of the Local Media Association, has been selected as the recipient of Borrell Associates' 2019 Award of Merit for outstanding leadership and innovation in local media. The award was presented Monday in front of more than 300 media executives at Borrell's 10th annual Local Online Advertising Conference at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan.

"I can think of no other person who works with such passion, consistency and energy to help transform the media industry," said Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, in announcing the award. "There are plenty of advocates for the TV industry, for newspapers, for radio and for other media, but Nancy advocates for all. She isn't siloed. Her tireless work as a collaborator defines true leadership. She's behind the scenes, securing consensus and always pushing us forward, to learn, to improve and to transform into something better. Ten years from now, many of today's print and broadcast companies will likely be smaller. But an important few will be bigger, and most of them will have Nancy Lane's influence to thank for it."

A native of Media, Pa., near Philadelphia, Lane been president of the LMA for nearly two decades. She transformed and rebranded the organization from a newspaper-only association, once called Suburban Newspapers of America, to an inclusive, innovation-focused entity. Prior to joining LMA, Lane spent 13 years in the newspaper industry serving as ad director and then publisher at newspapers in the Northeast and in St. Louis.

"I am honored and humbled to accept this award on behalf of my colleagues at LMA," she said. "We have an amazing, mission-driven team that work hard every day to help local media companies with their transformation strategies. This is no easy task. Our Innovation Missions and Chief Digital Clubs are helping in a big way, but we must do more. Our recently announced Business Model Accelerator will focus on bold and disruptive ideas that can be profitably scaled, in turn increasing the amount of local news in communities across North America and globally."

The association serves the radio, TV, online only and print industries along with R&D members who serve that community. Its mission is to "help local media companies find new and sustainable business models," and a key accomplishment under Lane's tenure has been the pioneering experiential learning opportunities for its 3,000 members.

She is the 10th recipient of Borrell's annual award.  Other recipients have included executives from A.H. Belo, Entravision Communications, Nexstar Media Group, The McClatchy Co., CBS Local Media, The E.W. Scripps Co., GateHouse Media, Fisher Communications and Deseret Media.  Borrell issues the award annually to an executive who's taken an innovative path to help a local media company and the industry in its digital transformation.