Time truly flies, doesn’t it?

It is so hard to believe we are here at TPA Conference month, which also means the end of my tenure as your TPA president.

Time goes by so fast, too fast. I really had no idea what to expect for this year. 

As I sit here and reflect, my first thought is that it really was truly an honor, privilege and a joy to serve all of you, as well as TPA as an institution. 

By LISA CHAPPELL, TPA President, 2025-26

This past year I attended many of the regional press association meetings, which was so enjoyable for me. To everyone who had a part in putting together and running the regional conferences, you did such an amazing job this year. I left inspired for our future, I took home many great ideas and I had a lot of laughs.

If you only attend the TPA conferences and not your regional meetings, you are missing out. They are great opportunities to meet like-minded people and even make some lifelong friends. It certainly doesn’t hurt that they are a ton of fun – which as some of you know is what I am all about. 

Life is too short to not have fun.

This has been another challenging year for many of us. We have seen so many changes, with some newspapers being sold or even shutting down and a number of other people retiring. But the majority of us are still here serving our communities and, as my grandmother would say, “doing the Lord’s work”. 

We are a resilient bunch, and hopefully all of us are embracing the changes to come. Our future depends on that. Meeting the demands of our readers requires us being open to change.

I want to take this time to thank our TPA staff. What an incredible group they are. Every single one of them works so hard for us. A bonus is that each one is such a pleasure to work with. It is so rare to have a team that is both pleasant and hard-working. We are lucky to have them on our side.

Candace Velvin puts out our Messenger and keeps us (me) in line, and she leads our contest efforts. Sue Brown makes sure we have fun while getting it all done. Joanna Weatherall keeps the revenue flowing to keep us afloat, as does Priscilla Loebenberg with our marketing. We have a new controller, Laura Rice, so take a moment to welcome her to the family if you haven’t done so already.

My buddy Joel Allis keeps up with the craziness of our USPS system so we don’t have to, and he’s great at doing the heavy lifting if you need some muscle. 

What on earth would we do without Donnis Baggett as our boots on the ground in Austin? What an amazing job he does keeping us informed and fighting to keep public notices in newspapers and protecting open records and meetings. How else could citizens be sure governmental shenanigans don’t get out of hand?

Then there is our amazing executive director, Mike Hodges, better known as Texas newspapers’ energizer bunny. I cannot list everything he does because it would take up the entire Messenger and Candace would not be happy with me. On top of all he does for our association, he practically does most of the president’s job too, and for that I am grateful. 

Thank you, TPA, for all you do for our newspapers. TPA is more than just an association, it is a resource, a connection, a powerhouse for us in Austin and the glue that makes us one big and happy family.

Thank you all for allowing me the honor of serving as your president this past year. 

I know that the future of journalism in in good hands – because it is in yours.