Alex Orfinger, long-time publisher of the Washington Business Journal who “helped shape the soul of this region”, steps down

Alex Orfinger, who came to D.C. 30 years ago to become publisher of the Washington Business Journal at the dawn of the internet age, is stepping down after two stints in the role combining for 24 years, reports WBJ.

Orfinger, 65, announced his decision to Business Journal staff at the company’s office in Rosslyn. He will continue as publisher and market president until a replacement is named later this year; he will remain as an adviser with American City Business Journals Inc., WBJ’s parent company.

According to WBJ, Orfinger’s time “atop the masthead at the region’s only publication dedicated to business spanned the highs and lows of Greater Washington, from the D.C. Financial Control Board and the dot-com boom and subsequent bomb to the Great Recession and the Covid-19 pandemic. His tenure, the longest for a publisher at the 44-year-old publication, coincided with five D.C. mayors and five U.S. presidents.”

“It’s a long time and it’s been an amazing journey for me,” Orfinger told the staff, saying he is not retiring but “taking a pause” as he plots his next moves.

Orfinger, a native of New York who attended Vassar College, started his ACBJ career in 1992 as associate publisher at the Atlanta Business Chronicle before relocating to Texas to become publisher at the Dallas Business Journal. After a short stint in Dallas, he landed the Washington job in 1996 and moved to the capital, where he had attended Georgetown University for graduate school.

He led WBJ until 2014, when he was promoted to executive vice president for ACBJ, overseeing 20 of the chain’s properties and leading the launch of the digital-only Business Journal in Cleveland.

Six years later amid the pandemic in 2020, he was again tapped as publisher and market president in Washington, while continuing to lead several initiatives for the parent company.

ACBJ Executive Vice President Mike Olivieri, who was in Arlington for the announcement, said the company will now begin a search for the next D.C. publisher.

“The measure of somebody’s career isn’t the number of years but the number of people they touched,” Olivieri told the staff. “It’s safe to say that few have touched as many people at ACBJ as Alex.”

“Alex Orfinger didn’t just publish the Washington Business Journal — he helped shape the soul of this region. For decades, he brought together the best of Greater Washington’s business, civic, and community leaders, and made every one of us feel like our work mattered. His vision, his generosity of spirit, and his unwavering commitment to this region will echo long after any byline. Alex, you’ve earned every moment of what comes next — and Washington is better because of you,” stated D.C. agency veteran Cary Hatch.

Photo By: Tasha Dooley Photography