After 12 years with the Boston Globe Piper oversaw the merger of the New England Daily Publishers Association with the New England Newspaper Advertising Bureau to create the New England Newspaper Association. He served as executive director of NENA for 45 years until its merger to become NENPA in 2009. He is a recipient of the Yankee Quill award, and the NENPA First Amendment Award is named in his honor. He continues today as the executive director of the Newspaper Association Managers organization. Through the years Piper has been friend, counselor and adviser to generations of New England newspaper executives.