Over three years, from Colorado to Maine to Georgia, we have laid a new foundation for sustainable local news nationwide. As Nieman Lab put it recently, “the Trust has grown rapidly by nearly every measure.”
We’re moving quickly to realize our vision of a durable new business model for local news: building out our operating platform, growing audiences and revenues in the states, reinvesting in first-rate journalism, and expanding to protect local news in more communities across the country. With so much critical work ahead, we’re excited to welcome three new fantastic people to the National Trust.
Alex Ikezawa joins us as Director of Strategy. Alex is responsible for some of our most critical growth initiatives: building our case to impact investors, sourcing and evaluating acquisition deal flow, and maturing our business intelligence function. Alex comes to the National Trust from Bain & Company, where he worked in the legendary private equity consulting group, and Social Finance, one of the country’s leading impact investment firms.
Nina Weyl joins us as Maine Field Director. Nina leads fundraising, board management, and community relations in Maine. Nina will focus on building the strong coalition of local funders, civic leaders, and community members that is essential to our mission. She comes to us with deep experience in fundraising and sales at institutions like Bowdoin College and Aspen Meadows Resort. Nina’s role is a new one for the National Trust; we’re already learning a great deal from it and will be hiring for similar positions in Colorado and Georgia.
Anthony Ronzio joins us as Director of Communications. Tony will lead a critical scale-up of our communications function, harnessing our outcomes into momentum with funders, partners, and our communities. Tony will also focus on building more opportunities to learn with and hear from one another across the National Trust, which will be critical to our success. Tony was an accomplished editor and executive at several Maine Trust publications, and held senior communications roles at Colby College and at the State of Maine’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future.
Tony, Nina, and Alex each report to Chief Growth Officer Will Nelligan. The Growth team focuses on building strong coalitions around our work, managing our expansion into new markets, and activating the philanthropic capital we need to fund our shared services, make acquisitions, and invest in our news businesses.
These three fantastic professionals have been busy getting started over the last several weeks. They have quickly made an impact on our work, one that you’ll soon see and feel as clearly as we do.
About the National Trust for Local News
Founded in 2021, the National Trust for Local News is a nonprofit newspaper company dedicated to protecting and sustaining community news. Today, the National Trust owns and operates 64 newspapers across Maine, Colorado, and Georgia – critical sources of community news that serve nearly 40 counties and some five million people.
Our mission is to prevent the spread of news deserts and reconnect people to the places they live. We publish sustainable community newspapers that safeguard the public trust, elevate facts, empower communities with solutions, and foster a strong sense of place.
For more information about the Trust, its newspapers, its supporters, and its mission to save local news, please visit nationaltrustforlocalnews.org.
