01/19/2017

Figurski, Bhatia join ONA Board of Trustees

Lori Figurski, regional advertising director for Ogden Newspapers, and Peter Bhatia, editor and vice president at Enquirer Media, Cincinnati, have been named to the Ohio Newspaper Association Board of Trustees.

Bill Southern of The (Toledo) Blade, president of the Board of Trustees, made the appointments to fill the unexpired terms of two trustees who resigned due to new assignments: Larry Dorschner of the Lisbon Morning Journal and Rick Green, former publisher at The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Figurski was named Ogden’s regional ad director in March 2015. She started her newspaper career in 1984 at The Times Leader in Martins Ferry in the classified department.  She held numerous positions with the Times Leader and was named advertising director in 1998.  In 1999, she was named Ogden’s advertising director for The Intelligencer and Wheeling News-Register, a post she held until 2005 when she returned to the Times Leader as publisher.

She has been active in ONA, including two years as chair of the ONA Convention Committee and running workshops and idea exchanges for ad directors at the annual convention.

Bhatia has spearheaded meaningful journalism and digital advances at numerous news sites across the country. Beyond his duties in Cincinnati, he also is Ohio editor for all Gannett properties in the USA Today network. Bhatia was previously director of the Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State’s Cronkite School of Journalism. His experience includes helping lead newsrooms that won nine Pulitzer Prizes, including six in Portland, when he was a news executive at The Oregonian. He was the first journalist of South Asian descent to lead a major daily newspaper in the U.S.

At the upcoming convention on Feb. 8, Bhatia will once again lead our annual editors’ roundtable discussion.

“Although we are sorry to lose Larry and Rick, who were both great contributors to the Board’s efforts, we are certain to enjoy the benefits of Peter’s and Lori’s vast experiences,” Southern said. “They each represent an important function of the newspaper with Peter’s background on the editorial side of the house and Lori’s advertising sales background.”

New members of AdOhio Advisory Committee

Southern also announced three appointments to fill vacancies on the AdOhio Advisory Committee, which supports the advertising sales and placement efforts of ONA’s for-profit affiliate for the benefit of all members. The new committee members are Jamie Beacom, publisher and advertising director of the Ashtabula Star-Beacon; Bob Chapman, advertising sales manager of the Bellefontaine Examiner; and Barbara Staples, media sales director of the Lima News.

“We’re fortunate to add these talented sales professionals to our AdOhio committee,” Southern said. “Ad Ohio’s performance is important to our members and critical to ONA’s success.”