Veteran news leader named Colorado Community Media editor

The next editor-in-chief of Colorado Community Media is Lisa Schlichtman, an experienced, award-winning news executive and an industry leader.

CCM Publisher Linda Shapley made the announcement Monday.

“I’ve been familiar with Lisa’s award-winning leadership for a number of years, and to have someone with her passion and talent guiding our journalists at Colorado Community Media will mean great things as we look to grow our brand,” she said.

Schlichtman, until recently the editor of the Steamboat Pilot & Today newspaper, joins CCM on Jan. 3.

“I am thrilled to join Colorado Community Media and take on the new role of editor-in-chief,” Schlichtman said. “I look forward to sharing my years of experience in the newspaper industry with CCM’s talented team of reporters and editors with the goal of connecting the communities we serve through engaging, locally-focused content and impactful journalism.”

Schlichtman will lead the news teams of CCM’s two dozen Colorado newspapers and websites as well as other publications. CCM was sold earlier this year by Jerry and Ann Healey to The Colorado News Conservancy, a partnership of The Colorado Sun and the National Trust for Local News dedicated to fostering community journalism.

CCM newspapers serve Adams, Arapahoe, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Elbert, Jefferson and Weld counties.

“Our publications have tremendous potential and reach, and it is exciting to be part of the newly established Colorado News Conservancy,” Schlichtman said.

Schlichtman succeeds Mark Harden, who retired as CCM editor last fall but has been serving on an interim basis since July while the search was underway for a permanent editor. Harden steps down Dec. 16.

“Lisa is just the sort of dynamic, innovative, experienced news leader who can help CCM reach its greatest potential,” Harden said. “I am so pleased she has agreed to join us and I wish her great success.”

Since July 2013, Schlichtman has been editor of the Pilot & Today, a daily newspaper founded in 1885 and serving Steamboat Springs and Routt County.

Schlichtman and her staff received the Colorado Press Association’s 2020 News Leader of the Year award for a multiplatform, in-depth reporting series, “Indivisible,” which focused on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion in Routt County and efforts to bridge divides. CPA named the Pilot & Today the state’s best newspaper in its size class for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019. And the newspaper under Schlichtman also received the 2019 Presidential Award from the Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance for its eight-week “In Our Shoes” series on sexual assault.

Schlichtman previously was an editor, co-publisher and co-owner of various publications in Missouri, including the Monnett Times, Cassville Democrat and Wheaton Journal newspapers as well as Ozarks Outdoors and Connection magazines. She began her career as a reporter and assistant editor at the Cassville newspaper.

In addition to her professional career, Schlichtman has been active in helping to support journalism and the news industry.

She is a past president of the Colorado Press Association, the statewide news-media trade group, and is a board member of the Colorado News Collaborative, or COLab, a Denver-based organization that serves as a local media resource hub. Previously she was a vice president and secretary of the Ozarks Press Association.

Schlichtman also has been engaged in community roles. She is a graduate of the 2014 Leadership Steamboat class, a past chairperson of the Cassville Planning and Zoning Commission, and a past board member of the Cassville and Monett Area Chambers of Commerce.

A St. Louis native, Schlichtman holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She and her late husband, Mike, have two grown sons who live on the Front Range.

CCM publications include the Arvada Press, Brighton Standard Blade, Canyon Courier, Castle Pines News-Press, Castle Rock News-Press, Centennial Citizen, Clear Creek Courant, Commerce City Sentinel Express, Denver Herald, Douglas County News-Press, Elbert County News, Englewood Herald, Evergreen Lifestyles, Fort Lupton Press, Golden Transcript, Highlands Ranch Herald, Jeffco Transcript, Life on Capitol Hill, Littleton Independent, Lone Tree Voice, Northglenn/Thornton Sentinel, Parker Chronicle, South Platte Independent, Washington Park Profile and Westminster Window, plus two shoppers, the AdCo Advertiser and 285 Hustler.