The National Trust for Local News has named Tom Wiley, a visionary local news executive who is currently president and publisher of The Buffalo News, as its CEO.
Wiley has decades of hands-on experience in local news, where he is renowned for leading digital transformation in news organizations ranging from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to the Middletown Press. Those he’s led have flourished as providers of quality local journalism, distinguishing themselves across the industry in digital revenue and audience growth.
“Local news has been my life and career for 30 years, and I know firsthand what a breakthrough the National Trust is for our field,” Wiley said. “The discipline and scalability of a commercial operator with the mission and investment resources of a nonprofit — we have all the right ingredients, and if we move fast we can build a vastly better future for local news in America.”
The National Trust is a nonprofit news organization and the primary source of local news for six million people in Maine, Georgia and Colorado. It has a unique business model, using philanthropy to invest in local newspapers but relying on earned revenue from subscriptions, advertising, events and more to sustain them. Its goal is to harness local newspapers to build a more resilient, equitable and vibrant future for local news, nationwide.
“Tom Wiley is a creative, results-oriented leader who loves local journalism and has a track record of building the audiences that sustain it,” said Jim Brady, vice president of journalism at Knight Foundation. Knight Foundation is among the National Trust’s largest and longest-standing funders, and Brady and Wiley worked together for four years at Digital First Media. “I have no doubt that the combination of Tom’s skills with the Trust’s unique model will have a profound impact on local news.”
Beginning with his first job selling advertising for the Lansing State Journal in Michigan, Wiley has spent his entire career in local news. He has earned a reputation as a relentlessly innovative operator, from developing proprietary advertising-technology software to building a data-centric sales strategy that extols the value of news audiences. He prioritizes community connectivity and civic engagement — and ensures his newsrooms do the same.
“Local news is a hard business, but it isn’t complicated,” Wiley said. “Journalism that audiences value is our mission and our business model. I am excited to help our newsrooms produce even more great local journalism, and help our sellers and marketers build a strong business around it.”
Wiley’s tenure begins May 12, when he’ll launch a whirlwind tour of communities the National Trust serves in Maine, Colorado and Georgia. He will continue to live in Buffalo, the city that he and his wife Julie recently convinced their three adult children to all call home once again. Wiley attended high school and college in East Lansing, Michigan. After high school he trained as a racecar driver in France and eventually raced in the F2000 Series — a piece of Wiley’s personal story that instantly rings true to those who know him. He’s fond of telling colleagues that what works in racing also works in transforming media: you have to go fast and push limits.
Another part of the National Trust’s transition is a change in board leadership. Keith Mestrich, who has served on the board since October 2023, was elected chair at its March meeting. He replaces Marc Hand, who co-founded the organization and has been its board chair since 2021. Mestrich is a financial services executive and labor leader who served as the CFO of Service Employees International Union and is known for leading the remarkable turnaround of Amalgamated Bank. He lives in rural Maine.
“I read the journalism of our Maine Trust for Local News every single day,” Mestrich said. “Our work has an impact on my own life and I know what good local journalism means for our democracy. I am deeply honored to take on the role of chair and partner with our fantastic new CEO.”
The board also recently added two new members: Danielle Bozarth, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company who delivered the National Trust’s Colorado publications as a teenager, and Nicco Mele, a serial entrepreneur and former director of the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy.
Wiley is the second CEO of the National Trust since its founding in 2021, succeeding co-founder Elizabeth Hansen Shapiro who resigned in January. His appointment comes during a period of rapid change for the organization, including a major digital transformation of its Maine business. The National Trust recently concluded its most successful fundraising quarter in history. Last week, it acquired the Dawson County News in rural Georgia, while its Portland Press Herald — alongside FRONTLINE and Maine Public — was nominated for the George Foster Peabody Award for public service.
“I have invested in the National Trust because I believe in the model,” said Simone Coxe, who is the co-founder of CalMatters, a National Trust board member, and one of the organization’s newest major donors. “Tom is the right leader to deliver on its promise.”
About the National Trust for Local News:
Founded in 2021, the National Trust for Local News is a community-rooted, nationally-scaled nonprofit building a more equitable future for local news. Today the organization is the primary source of local news for six million people in Maine, Colorado and Georgia. The National Trust’s publications are cornerstones of community — they tell the truth, hold power to account, contextualize global issues and chronicle all realms of local life from food to sports. Its mission is to renew civic life by rebuilding local news.
