Former Lancaster Chamber president appointed to interim role as top executive of WITF, LNP

• By Chad Umble / LNP | LancasterOnline

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that LNP | LancasterOnline will be transferred to the nonprofit Always Lancaster, while Pennon will retain and wind down the for-profit entity LNP Media Group.

Tom Baldrige, the former longtime president of the Lancaster Chamber, has been named interim president and CEO of Pennon, the company that owns WITF and – at least for now – LNP | LancasterOnline.

At Pennon, Baldrige replaces board chair Leigh Horner, who stepped in as interim CEO in mid-October after the resignation of Ron Hetrick. Baldrige, who spent 22 years as president and CEO of the Lancaster Chamber, retired from the chamber in 2022.

“I’ve always had a strong passion for local journalism,” Baldrige told LNP | LancasterOnline. ”I feel it’s absolutely essential to a community’s health and being given the opportunity to play a role in trying to stabilize and position an entity as important as Pennon into the future is very exciting.”

Baldrige, 66, of Lancaster Township, said he has agreed to stay on as president and CEO of Pennon for up to six months.

As Baldrige assumes his interim role, Pennon will continue to look for a permanent leader, according to an email Horner sent to staff Monday announcing the changes. In response to a follow-up email, Horner declined to disclose Baldrige’s salary.

Baldrige now leads an organization that is preparing to shed ownership of LNP Media Group, the media company that was gifted to it in 2023 by the Steinman family. Last week Pennon announced plans to gift LNP to Always Lancaster, a new nonprofit led by David Greene, a Lancaster native who is a former host of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”

The transfer, which is subject to approval by the state Attorney General’s office, could happen by the end of December.

LNP Media Group publishes the daily LNP newspaper and its companion news website, as well as the Ephrata Review and Lititz Record. After the planned transfer of those LNP Media Group assets, Pennon will continue to operate WITF, the Dauphin County-based public broadcaster that serves a 19-county region in central Pennsylvania.

After Pennon’s transfer of LNP | LancasterOnline to the nonprofit Always Lancaster, Pennon will retain – and then wind down — the for-profit entity LNP Media Group.