Rotunda was place to be election night after county site crashes

San Francisco airport won't be renamed Harvey Milk

First Posted: 5/15/2013 WILKES-BARRE &#8212;Civitas Media has named Walt Lafferty as General Manager and Business Development Director for Impressions Media, the parent company of The Times Leader and numerous other local publications and websites.
Lafferty, 52, a suburban Philadelphia native who now resides in Yatesville, has held top management positions at several newspaper and media groups during the past 25 years. He has worked for the Gannett Co., the Goodson Newspaper Group and Ingersoll Publications. The past three years he has been a publisher as well as a group controller for several GateHouse Media newspapers in Illinois.
Lafferty started in the finance department at his home county newspaper, the Delaware County Daily Times, and has since held positions throughout the industry including publisher, president, controller and general manager.
While noting that he has not worked as a journalist, he has a clear understanding of the newspaper business.
&#8220;I&#8217;m not a wordsmith, but I certainly have a grasp on what people want to read in the newspaper,&#8221; Lafferty said. He noted that Impressions Media not only has a strong print newspaper presence, but is the market leader when it comes to digital media, too.
&#8220;Walt and the leadership at Civitas have emphasized the importance of local news in this market,&#8221; said Joe Butkiewicz, Executive Editor of Impressions Media publications. &#8220;I&#8217;m encouraged that they recognize the engaged readership in this market and our mission to provide aggressive and compelling content.&#8221;
In addition to The Times Leader, the local news organizations under the Impressions Media umbrella include the Sunday Dispatch in Pittston, the Dallas Post, the Abington Journal, The Weekender, the NEPA Energy Journal and other digital platforms and publications. Impressions Media is part of a national portfolio of media companies owned by Civitas Media, which employs 1,650 people at 99 locations across 12 states in the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and South.
Lafferty has been married to wife Cindy for 23 years, and the couple have two children, Patrick, 21, and Sara, 19, both students at Penn State University.
The Laffertys have been active in community organizations. While living in Springfield, Ill., Walt Lafferty served on the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce Strategic Planning Committee and Downtown Springfield Inc. Cindy Lafferty was active with local food pantries, the Boy Scouts of America and the Illinois Friend in Deed program.
Lafferty said he and his wife will get involved with local organizations as soon as they settle in.
Prashant Shitut, who had served as president and CEO of Impressions Media since 2009, had his position eliminated Tuesday. Lafferty&#8217;s position is a newly created one.

Impressions Media welcomes new leader