PNA Strategic Planning Update

By Tim Williams, PNA President

As many of you are aware, the PNA is undergoing its first strategic planning process in nearly ten years. In that time, the PNA has experienced exponential growth. So, this is a necessary and welcome undertaking. I just wanted to keep our members and friends updated on our progress.

The strategic planning is being spearheaded by Jamie Blaine, formerly the owner and publisher of The Kennett Paper. Jamie was also the chairman of the Association’s board of directors in 2000-2001, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of the PNA Foundation. 

Last summer, Jamie developed a questionnaire, which was circulated to members of the PNA’s board of directors, as well as to several of the PNA Foundation board of trustees. Jamie compiled the results and developed a one-day strategic planning session. This program was held just before Thanksgiving in Hershey. 

For the most part, the participating members agreed that the services provided by PNA are excellent. They also decided that PNA, the Foundation and MANSI have become and should remain staff-driven, member-supported organizations. The appropriate role for the boards of these organizations is to ensure that the staff stays true to the mission of the organizations. In this sense, the conclusion of the group was that only the PNA, Foundation and MANSI staff could develop a meaningful strategic plan. 

So the task for Jamie and the PNA staff was to develop a set of action items and a time frame for them in response to the strategic planning results. We have been working on this for the past two months, and will present a first draft to the PNA Executive Committee and Board of Directors at their meetings Feb. 27 and 28 in connection with the Government Affairs Conference in Harrisburg.

There are 11 action items on the list:

1. Create an overall mission statement for the PNA. 
2. Improve communications to our members.
3. Increase MANSI sales and revenues.
4. Reposition PNA’s structure and programming for the 21st Century.
5. Formalize the transition to a staff-driven, member-supported organization.
6. Focus on mypublicnotices.com – balance its purpose, costs and revenues.
7. Market all aspects of the newspaper industry to the next generation.
8. Become a resource for industry and market research.
9. Make the Foundation a forum for new ideas on the future of the newspaper industry.
10. Rebuild a sense of loyalty and fellowship among PNA members.
11. Keep the PNA’s entrepreneurial flame alive. 

We have begun to work on some of these items, others are ongoing and others have been assigned completion dates in the future. We are excited about this process, and will keep you updated as we move forward. 

As always, please feel free to contact me with questions, input or for an update. My email is timw@pa-news.org. You can also contact Jamie Blaine jblaine@kennett.net  or any of the members of the PNA’s Operating Committee.

Connie McNamara
Randy Graf
Corinna Vecsey Wilson
Jeff Tankesley
Janet McNally