The Local Media Consortium (LMC), a strategic partnership of leading local media companies, today announced that it has elected Christopher Loretto as Chairman of its Executive Board. Loretto will lead the 10-person committee as it guides the organization toward providing increased value and voice for its members and partners.
"The LMC is coming off a very strong year having achieved many accomplishments in 2017, including a 600 percent increase in our broadcast outlet membership, substantial growth in revenue and partnership opportunities for our members, and the formation of a corporate entity," said Rusty Coats, CEO of the LMC. "As we look toward the New Year and toward revenue diversification, expanded collaboration with technology platform partners, a larger industry voice and increased ROI for our members, I cannot think of a person better suited than Chris Loretto to work alongside me to execute our strategic plan. A longtime member of our working board and diligent leader of our ad quality, ad blocking and viewability committees, Chris is a guy who gets things done."
Chris Loretto has served as Digital First Media's Chief Digital Officer and EVP Digital since August 2014. He currently provides strategic leadership for key functional areas across the digital organization including in product, development, technology, revenue, operations, audience, marketing and training. Prior to his current role, Loretto was Vice President of Digital for the Los Angeles News Group from 2011-2014. Prior to Digital First Media, Loretto was Director of Interactive Media, Product Development and Marketing at The Times Media Company of Northwest Indiana before being promoted to Regional Executive for Mid-Valley Newspapers and publisher of three mastheads. He was also publisher for several business-to-business publications at Nielsen Media in New York. Loretto is a veteran of the Marine Corps and a graduate of Stony Brook University with a degree in Economics.
"I feel privileged to take on this role at such a pivotal time in our industry and as the LMC transitions to a corporate entity," said Loretto. "The LMC's membership now represents half of the nation's local broadcast news outlets and nearly two-thirds of the small market newspapers in the U.S., which affords us the opportunity to have a collective voice at the table for important industry issues and deepened relationships with major platform partners. I look forward to collaborating with Rusty and the LMC board and members to implement strategies that drive value for membership and the industry as a whole."
Serving on the board of the LMC since 2014, Loretto takes an active strategic leadership role to drive and support the LMC's mission. Currently he helps lead several committees including Ad Viewability, Ad Blocking and Ad Quality. In addition, he now assumes the role as Chairman of the Board for the newly formed LMC Inc. He is also actively involved with the IAB, INMA and NMA industry associations. Loretto succeeds longtime LMC Chairman Christian A. Hendricks, who is retiring as Vice President/Products, Marketing and Innovation for McClatchy.
The LMC also welcomes three new board members: Andrew Pergam, Washington, DC-based VP, Video and New Ventures for McClatchy, which is headquartered in Sacramento, Calif.; Nicki Purcell, Chief Digital Officer and Senior VP of Consumer Sales for The Dallas Morning News; and Gary Smith, VP of Advertising for The Seattle Times.
Andrew Pergam joined McClatchy in 2014 as Head of Video to develop a comprehensive video initiative across all 28 markets and 14 states nationwide. Prior to joining McClatchy, Pergam was a Senior Editor and the Director of Video at The Washington Post, leading long-term strategy and overseeing day-to-day operations. He helped lead the launch of PostTV with a particular emphasis on emerging distribution platforms.
At The Dallas Morning News, Nicki Purcell leads the company's digital transformation to meet the challenges of a mobile-first world, delivering against the consumer product experience, and growth in audience market share, including print and digital subscription sales. Prior to joining the company in 2013, Purcell reported directly to the President of Nokia, Inc., leading the customer care organization and reverse logistics operations for North America.
The Vice President of Advertising at The Seattle Times, Gary Smith is a 28-year veteran of the media industry and has been involved in the media industry's digital technology and digital publishing since its inception. Prior to the Times, Smith was Vice President of Advertising at The News & Observer in Raleigh-Durham, N.C., where he led the company in digital publishing advancement while growing the business side of the operation.
Rounding out the board, which is comprised of executive digital leadership from a broad range of member companies, are James Green from Lee Enterprises; Eric Johnston of Adams Publishing Group; Thom Kastrup from BH Media; Peter Newton from GateHouse Media; Doug Phares from the Sandusky Newspaper Group; and Tom Sly from The E. W. Scripps Company. All terms are elected and take effect January 1, 2018. The LMC Board meets quarterly in person and bi-monthly via conference.
About the Local Media Consortium
The Local Media Consortium is a strategic partnership of leading local media companies focused on increasing member companies' share of digital revenue and audience by pursuing new relationships with a variety of technology companies and service providers. The LMC was founded in 2013 to address the needs of advertisers seeking to reach high-quality audiences on brand safe local digital properties at scale. In addition, the LMC provides members with access to leading technology and content solutions by fostering key partnerships with companies including Google, Monster, Yahoo and others. LMC membership encompasses more than 75 local media companies in top markets across the United Statesand Puerto Rico, and includes more than 1,700 publications. The LMC audience footprint currently spans 164 million unique monthly visitors and its member companies serve more than four billion page views to readers. More information is available at www.localmediaconsortium.com.
