Tracy Ormsbee, a senior editor at the Albany Times Union, has been named publisher of the Adirondack Explorer, effective March 1, 2017.  Ormsbee will succeed Publisher Thomas Woodman, who announced earlier this year that he planned to retire in 2017.

Ormsbee currently serves as Senior Editor/Features and Sports at the Times Union as well as Executive Editor of Times Union Magazines. She leads a team that creates the newspaper’s features and sports content and two magazines. She also acts as the lead editor for the Sunday newspaper. Ormsbee heads the Time Union’s Women@Work magazine and professional network and manages the Women@Work Executive Board, which consists of top businesswomen in the Albany area. Long active in state and national journalism organizations, she serves as president of the board of the New York State Associated Press Association.

Ormsbee has vacationed at her family’s camp on Lake Eaton in Long Lake since she was 5. She continues to spend time at the camp and is active in community outreach in Hamilton County through her church in Blue Mountain Lake.

“In Tracy we have found a creative and entrepreneurial leader, an accomplished journalist in print and digital media, a strong communicator with a passion for community engagement and a long-time lover of the Adirondacks,” said Charlotte Hall, chair of the Explorer’s Board of Directors in a prepared statement. “Building on the Explorer‘s history of editorial excellence, Tracy is perfectly positioned to lead our growth and expand our impact, both in print and on the web.”

“I am so excited to join the team of the Adirondack Explorer and continue the important work of getting the word out about the Adirondacks through its print publications, websites and social media,” Ormsbee said. “And I look forward to getting to know its readers, who have such passion for this beautiful place we all share.”

Prior to joining the Times Union in 2002, Ormsbee spent 10 years at the Star-News in Wilmington, NC, rising to features editor. She graduated from Syracuse University and also studied at the Hearst Management Institute in Rye Brook, NY. She and her husband, Jim, have two daughters, both at SUNY universities.

The Adirondack Explorer is a non-profit publication dedicated to promoting the preservation and enjoyment of the Adirondack Park, the largest park in the contiguous United States. Founded in 1998 and based in Saranac Lake, NY, the Explorer reaches thousands of readers with its bimonthly magazine and website, its online Adirondack Almanack (the Park’s largest daily digital news journal) and its growing series of guide books.

Photo: Tracy Ormsbee, provided.