Tom Bradlee is the 2007 Hall of Fame Inductee

Longtime Chesapeake president and former MDDC president To Bradlee has been selected as the 2007 inductee into the MDDC Newspaper Hall of Fame. Bradlee is the first honoree from Chesapeake Publishing to enter the Hall of Fame.

Bradlee’s career at Chesapeake began in 1968 when it was known as Tri-State Publishing. He became general manager and publisher of the company’s Southern Delaware division in 1970 and in 1982 was named publisher of The Cecil Whig and Chesapeake’s Upper Shore Division. As publisher of the Whig, Bradlee led the conversion of the newspaper from a weekly to a daily.

In 1987, Tom was named president and CEO of Chesapeake Publishing. Under Bradlee’s leadership, the publisher embarked on a period of considerable growth. Between 1988 and 2001, Bradlee’s ability to recognize market opportunities and identify promising acquisitions grew Chesapeake Publishing into the 12th largest community newspaper group in the country. By the mid-1990s, Chesapeake owned 66 publications or publishing operations in five states: Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Under Bradlee’s leadership, Chesapeake expanded into markets adjacent to where its established and entrenched newspapers were already doing business and found comparable success. Also during Bradlee’s nearly-two-decades-old presidency, Chesapeake has expanded with three start-up business publications; a boating publication, The Mariner; at least four new weekly newspapers; 16 community newspaper acquisitions; and as many as a dozen new niche products and operations.

Despite the ebb of the economic tide that is inevitable in any twenty-year span, Bradlee has been a staunch proponent of employee recognition. He has remained committed to encouraging and rewarding excellence with annual training conferences for Chesapeake employees in Ocean City or St. Michaels, MD, where a company-sponsored evening of fun and entertainment could be sandwiched between two days of training. Bradlee has been quoted as saying, “What makes Chesapeake great is that we know how to mix some fun around running our business the right way.” In good or lean years, Bradlee has regularly run contests that recognize all of Chesapeake’s employees’ contributions and talents.

Bradlee was elected to the MDDC Board of Directors in 1975 and served as its president in 1984. His tutelage also fostered other MDDC presidents: Larry Effingham, (Chesapeake Publishing), Jeffrey Mezzatesta (Cecil Whig) and Karen Acton (Southern  Maryland Newspapers).

Bradlee’s contribution to the newspaper industry stretches beyond his work with MDDC. He has served as president of both the National Newspaper Association (1988) and the Suburban Newspaper Association (2000), which honored Tom in 2003 with the Dean Lesher Award for his contribution to the community newspaper industry.

Current MDDC President Richard Amberg, vice president and general manager  of The Washington Times, said of Bradlee, “In the eight years I have been either an officer or board member, I have never seen so many highly qualified nominees for the Hall of Fame as we had this year, making the choice agonizing. Still, by slicing and dicing, Tom Bradlee appeared at the top of all the judges’ list. His remarkable 19 years as president of Chesapeake Publishing have been a time of innovation in publications, expansion, divestiture, and more growth, making Chesapeake an exemplary and leading community newspaper company. Tom is extremely deserving of this honor.”