Elkhart Truth gets new GM

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Pete Van Baalen, the new general manager of The Elkhart Truth, started his journalism career in middle school.

That’s when Van Baalen, 47, started writing for the student newspaper. By the time he was at Anderson Highland High School, he was working as a reporter for newspapers in the community.

At Butler University, he shifted his focus to radio and TV and soon found himself doing, among other things, radio play-by-play as well as sales. Eventually, his career began to focus on the business side of the industry.

Van Baalen’s arrival in Elkhart comes after a lengthy tenure with Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., a pub­lishing company that operates about 130 newspapers across the United States, including nine daily newspapers and four other publica­tions in Indiana.

He held numerous roles at CNHI spanning 17 years, beginning as a sales manager and later including advertising manager and several stints as publisher. His most recent position was regional advertising director at the company’s Anderson office.

As general manager, he is in charge of the day-to-day operations of The Elkhart Truth newspaper as well as its digital and related niche products.

Truth Publisher Brandon Erlacher said Van Baalen brings with him the perfect set of tools for the job.

Van Baalen’s demon­strated success and new ideas will continue to strengthen the news­paper’s mission to serve the community, Erlacher said.

Van Baalen and his wife, Ruth, have a son, Eric, who is 17.

– The Elkhart Truth