The MNA board of directors unanimously voted to appoint Mike Dalton of the Cannon Falls Beacon to serve as treasurer of the MNA Board of Directors. Dalton fills the open MNA board seat vacated by Scott Schmeltzer who resigned his board post after accepting a newspaper job in Wisconsin.
Mike Dalton is the editor and minority owner of the Cannon Falls Beacon, a 4,000-circulation weekly newspaper located in Cannon Falls.
He is the fifth generation of his family to edit the newspaper, which has been in existence since 1876 and in his family since 1880. He worked at the newspaper during high school and college, then returned full time in 1992. He became editor in 2011, replacing his father, Dick, a member of MNA’s 50-Year Club.
Dalton attended Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, and graduated from Mankato State University with a degree in English Education. He worked at the MSU newspaper, the Reporter, for three years.
He currently serves on MNA’s Member Services committee, and has also volunteered his time with the Cannon Falls Chamber of Commerce. He spent 17 years on the Cannon Falls Volunteer Fire Department, and is currently an EMT volunteer on the city’s ambulance service. He was a member of the Minnesota News Council when it disbanded. Dalton and his wife Mary – high school sweethearts – have two children, both adopted from Romania, Ethan, 18, will enter his senior year at Cannon Falls and Emma, 13, will be an eighth grader.
“The Minnesota Newspaper Association has been an integral part of our business for as long as I’m able to remember, and it’s a huge honor to have been appointed to its board of directors,” said Dalton.