Saga Elevates Forgy & Leland

• Saga Communications has promoted Chris Forgy from SVP of Operations to President & CEO, effective Dec. 7. That position had been occupied since 1986 by Ed Christian, who passed away in August. Since then, former longtime Saga COO Warren Lada had come out of retirement to serve as interim Pres./CEO. The company concurrently announced that Saga Norfolk President/GM Wayne Leland (below, left) will succeed Forgy as the company’s new SVP of Operations, effective Jan. 3.

Lada remarked, “Chris Forgy stood out from all the others considered for the President & CEO role. His leadership will provide an opportunity to bring new ideas and change to Saga. Saga’s core values, performance standards and culture will remain as the foundation to our success. Also, promoting Saga veteran Wayne Leland provides a smooth transition and an opportunity to explore and implement strategic operational changes to enhance Saga’s ongoing performance.”

Forgy stated, “I am honored, humbled, excited and ready to begin my new role as only the second President and CEO Saga has ever known. We have an elite group of leaders and staff. I have often said you don’t have to be on all the time, only when it’s time. The time is right now for all of us to step up and shine for our customers, our listeners, our employees and our shareholders. As we embark on this ongoing adventure that is Saga, I would like to thank Warren Lada and the Saga Board of Directors for this opportunity.”

Leland commented, “To become the new Senior Vice President/Operations for Saga is a dream come true. I look forward to working with Chris, our corporate staff, our market managers and all of Saga’s staff to continue Saga’s journey into the future.”