Leadership Lake County hires Tricia Johnston as new President and CEO Leadership Lake County continues to build leaders and the community
MENTOR – Leadership Lake County is pleased to announce the hiring of Tricia Johnston as the organization’s new President and CEO.
Johnston is Leadership Lake County’s fifth president and CEO since its formation in 1986. She began her new role on May 18 and takes over for Jessie Baginski, who recently retired from the position after serving since 2012.
“I’ve had the great opportunity to work in a number of different states and communities, most of them very similar to Lake County in terms of resources and opportunities,” Johnston said. “Lake County is so unique in how innovative it is and that innovation comes from good leadership and forward thinking.”
Johnston said she’s always admired Leadership Lake County and the people involved with it and is pleased to have been selected as the organization’s new President and CEO.
“Happily, they saw the potential and the fit that I saw,” she said. “The professional experiences I’ve had reinforce how important leadership as a skillset is and how it’s constantly evolving and constantly changing.”
Leadership Lake County Board of Directors Chair Clark Gerber said Johnston has shown the ability in previous roles to adapt to various challenges, generate new revenue streams, and take responsibility for profit and loss. “We are excited to have Tricia with Leadership Lake County,” Gerber said. “Her experience with private and nonprofit organizations coupled with a high level of professionalism was the right fit for what we were looking for. Tricia is also a Leadership Lake County alumni with connections in the county that she maintained even while working in other states for much of her career.”
Johnston earned a master’s degree in business administration from John Carroll University and a bachelor’s degree in English from St. Bonaventure University. She is a Leadership Lake County Signature Class of 2000 graduate.
The Painesville resident has professional experience in media, nonprofit, and manufacturing starting in sales, fundraising, and marketing and eventually leading several multi-media companies.
Johnston previously served since 2014 with three different media companies in Michigan, Indiana, West Virginia, and North Carolina, running multi-media community news organizations as the regional publisher and president.
Her experience includes sales and sales management from 1987 to 1994 with Media News Group, owner of The News-Herald in Willoughby.
Johnston also served as marketing and communications director for United Way of Lake County from 1998 to 2005, and end-user sales and marketing coordinator with Avery Dennison from 1994 to 1997.
For more information about Leadership Lake County, visit www.leadershiplakecounty.org and like us on Facebook at facebook.com/LLCLeads.