The New England Newspaper and Press Association (NENPA) and the Northeast Association of Communication Executives (NEACE) are collaborating on a special, two-part program at NENPA’s spring convention in Waltham on March 22.
The Paid Readership Imperative brings together experts on building and retaining online subscribers led by Tim Griggs, founder and CEO of Blue Engine, a company successfully working with publishers to grow digital business.
Griggs is the former head of revenue products at The New York Times, a former publisher at the Texas Tribune, a former coach with the Media Transformation Challenge at Harvard University, and the Knight-Lenfest Newsroom Initiative at UNC-Chapel Hill. Griggs also led the Table Stakes program for commercial television at Arizona State University, he was the co-creator of the American Press Institute’s Better News hub and co-author of Table Stakes: Getting in the Game of News. Griggs will offer best practices in subscription sales and retention during the first half of the program.
Following his presentation, John Harrison, vice president of Customer Experience at Wallit, a software company providing e-commerce and customer management services for digital publishing, will lead a discussion among New England newspaper executives on what is working at their operations. Harrison is on NEACE’s board of directors and will facilitate a discussion that will also include fellow NEACE board member Gary Lavariere, chief revenue officer at The Berkshire Eagle, Tim Dwyer, publisher of The Day in New London, Conn., Jim Falzone, publisher for CNHI’s North of Boston Media Group, and Allie Ginwala, audience engagement editor at the Concord Monitor.
They will discuss the success of their paywalls, audience building, and other strategies in helping to grow subscription revenue.

NENPA’s spring convention is scheduled for March 22-23, 2024, at the Westin Waltham Boston in Waltham, Mass. This program is slated for 1 p.m. Plan to join us for this interactive session where you’ll learn new strategies being implemented at news organizations around New England. We will also break into roundtable discussions to delve deeper into solutions.
We are extending NENPA-member pricing to NEACE members so they can register using the NENPA member options for Individual or Group Registration on the registration form. If you have any issues with registration or questions about the program please contact, Tara Cleary at t.cleary@nenpa.com.
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Jim Falzone is the publisher of the seven newspapers that comprise North of Boston Media Group in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In addition, he serves as vice president of production for parent company CNHI, LLC, and is president of the Northeast Association of Communication Executives. Before working at North of Boston Media Group, Falzone held editorial, ad production, and operations roles at Gannett newspapers in upstate New York.
John Harrison is a digital publishing industry professional with over 20 years of experience in product management, marketing, and sales. He is VP of Customer Experience at Wallit, providing publishers subscription management and web content paywall services to help capture revenue from digital and print products.
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