Sample News Group names CEO, two presidents; Local publisher planning for retirement

Sample News Group, with more than 75 publications in four states, will realign its leadership team pending the year-end retirement of longtime executive Kelly Luvison. Joseph A. Beegle of Bedford has been named chief executive officer, and Gary Adkisson and Brian Nalepa will serve as company presidents. 

George “Scoop” Sample, currently the CEO, will become chairman.

“No one can take the place of Kelly with his passion for journalism and commitment to local newspapers,” Sample said. “SNG could not have become one of America’s largest and best small newspaper groups without him. He was tireless in making sure that we deliver the quality local journalism that our towns deserve.”

Luvison has served as president and publisher of Bradford County’s two daily newspapers, The Morning Times in Sayre, since 2008, and The Daily Review in Towanda, since 2015, in which The Owego Pennysaver is a part of its Weekly Group. 

With more than four decades of experience as a newspaper reporter, editor, publisher and printing executive, he also oversees newspaper operations in central Pennsylvania, New York, and Vermont. 

“At 14 years old I decided I wanted to become a newspaper reporter, and for the last 42 years I’ve made it my life’s work,” Luvison said. “The last 16 with Sample News Group have proven to be the very best place to bring this wonderful run to a close. Bar none. 

“Now it’s time to give back to the other great love of my life who, for nearly all of the last four decades, has tolerated my fixation with the work of community journalism,” said Luvison, adding, “Karen and I are beyond grateful to Scoop and Sissie, to so many other great newspaper people and friends along the way, and to a truly noble profession that has given us so much.”

Newly appointed CEO Beegle has a nearly 40-year career in newspapers, including 20 as publisher of The Bedford Gazette. He is currently president of SNG’s Southern Division and has previously served as vice president. 

It has been Beegle’s lifelong dream to grow in an ever-changing industry and see where the journey takes him. He is ready and eager for the next step. 

“I have seen many changes since starting as a freelance photographer on Masters Avenue in Everett, Pennsylvania, changes which the newspaper industry has embraced and continues to move toward. I have spent my entire adult life in the newspaper industry. It has been a career that has blessed and continues to bless me, my family, and all the Sample News Group families,” Beegle said.    

Adkisson, promoted from the role of regional vice president, will be responsible for SNG’s Western Division, where he is based. He will add the Indiana Gazette to his group, which also includes the Leader Times (Kittanning), Latrobe Bulletin, Daily Courier (Connellsville) and several weeklies. He will also retain his role as director of digital strategy.   

Nalepa has been with SNG since February of 2022 when he became publisher of the Indiana Gazette. In May 2023 he was promoted to regional vice president. Before joining SNG, Nalepa had been at Times Shamrock Communications for over 11 years, where he last served as general manager of business development.

He will continue his work with the company’s New York papers, including the Daily News in Batavia and Palladium Times in Oswego. He will take on Luvison’s Pennsylvania group in Sayre (Morning Times), Towanda (The Daily Review), Milton (Standard Journal) and Shamokin (The News Item), along with many weekly publications, to include The Owego Pennysaver, as part of the Eastern Division.

“Kelly has been a mentor and coach for me since coming onboard here at Sample News Group,” Nalepa said. “He leaves behind a legacy that was committed to providing communities with excellent journalism. It is truly an honor to have the privilege to come in and work with his team and build upon the foundation he has left behind.”

The executives will transition into their new roles through the end of the year.   

Luvison is a graduate of the Reed School of Journalism at West Virginia University in Morgantown. A lifelong resident of Pennsylvania, Luvison grew up in Warren County. He and his wife, Karen, now reside in Litchfield Township. They have two grown children.   

Sample News Group is a privately held publishing company based in Huntingdon, with 17 daily newspapers and more than 35 weeklies and specialty magazines. The company owns and operates 30 local websites and six centralized production facilities, employing more than 700 people in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Vermont. 

For more information, visit samplenewsgroup.com.