SPRINGFIELD – Erin Tierney-Heggenstaller, who first joined The Chronicle as a reporter, has joined the ownership team, publisher Noel Nash announced.
“We’re delighted that Erin has become a part of our ownership, and it speaks to the impact she’s made on our multi-platform news-and-information business,” said Nash, who purchased the newspaper in February 2019 with his wife, Denise.
Tierney-Heggenstaller joined the paper under different ownership in 2016 as a reporter before being named executive editor. Tierney-Heggenstaller has since been responsible for numerous innovations and improvements while helping create and implement the paper’s editorial vision.
“I can’t properly express the depth of my gratitude to the Nashes for bringing me into the ownership circle,” she said. “It’s been my privilege to help serve readers in our communities with credible, trustworthy journalism, spotlighting people and places largely ignored by other media.”
Tierney-Heggenstaller has also been responsible for an ever-evolving digital and social media strategy in addition to her journalism. She launched email newsletters in 2023 – a product that produces twice the “open rate” of other newsletters.
“I think our unique and differentiating content drives the email newsletter engagement,” she said.
Under Tierney-Heggenstaller’s direction and development of young reporters, designers, and freelancers, The Chronicle has received 85 ONPA Better Newspaper Contest awards since 2019. The weekly paper earned 8 awards in 2019; 18 awards in ’20; 14 awards in ’21; 21 awards for ’22; and 24 for its work in ’23. Tierney-Heggenstaller has been awarded numerous writing and reporting awards herself, from investigative and enterprise to government reporting, feature and column writing, breaking news, headline writing, and design.
“There is no way I could have imagined this opportunity to join the ownership team back when I answered that Craigslist job post all those years ago,” Tierney-Heggenstaller said. “This is a gift I will treasure always.”
Tierney-Heggenstaller is a native of Palmerton, a tiny town in northeast Pennsylvania. She was formerly the associate editor at a daily newspaper in central Pennsylvania, The Lock Haven Express, before moving to Oregon in 2016 with her husband, Lance, when she first served as a reporter for the publication.
In 2017, she was named editor, and in 2019, just ahead of the pandemic, she took on additional administrative responsibilities as executive editor.
“Overcoming all these unforeseen challenges over the years – from a pandemic to wildfires and dramatic cultural shifts, all while dealing with our own internal industry struggles – is a testament to our grit and determination to ensure the survival of this publication,” she said. “We’ve fought unendingly to be here still serving our communities, and to borrow an adage often used by my business partner, ‘We’re just getting started.’”