Lance Turner, a fixture of Arkansas journalism for nearly a quarter century, is making the move into another career. The editor of Arkansas Business confirmed to Arkansas Money & Politics that he will be joining Little Rock-based Ghidotti Communications, a strategic communications firm, at the first of the year as an account supervisor.
Asked what precipitated the change, Turner said his long relationship with founder Natalie Ghidotti and the desire to do something different in his career.
“It’s exciting, it should be a learning experience for sure,” he said. “I’ve never been anywhere else. I graduated from college, then I took two weeks off and then I came to Arkansas Business in May of 1999 and I have been here ever since.
“Natalie and I have been friends for 20 years; she was working at Arkansas Business when I arrived in 1999. I’ve kind of watched her from afar as her career has developed and eventually she founded her own agency. She just happened to have something come open this year. Like everybody else, you look at other things every so often and up to now I just hadn’t for whatever reason thought anything was compelling enough for me to leave this company which has been fantastic to me.”
Turner, 47, is a graduate of Arkansas State University and has played a major role in the publication’s growth and diversification through the years. In December 2000, he became editor of the newly launched ArkansasBusiness.com, and his job has expanded as ABPG’s online offerings expanded. He took over the editor’s role at Arkansas Business from Gwen Moritz in 2021. Moritz will return to serve as interim editor until a permanent replacement can be named, Turner said.
A native Arkansan, Turner has also become a familiar face to the viewers of Arkansas Business’ news partner, KTHV-TV, Channel 11, by delivering business news during the morning news program, “Wake Up Central.”
“This company has been really good about keeping me interested and throwing new things at me,” he said. “I was fortunate enough to be here when the Internet started to become a thing and we launched a lot of websites and there was a lot happening.
“I’d just been thinking I’ve wanted to try something new, I’ve wanted to have a new experience somewhere else. I thought (Ghidotti) would be a good environment to try something new. If I’m ever going to do it, I’m probably going to do it soon because none of us are getting any younger, obviously.”
Turner is slated to take over in his new role Jan. 5.
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