Board of Directors 2013-2014

The Board of Directors is elected for two-year terms by members at the Annual General Meeting. The volunteer board members represent the varied size and nature of member titles as well as the country's different geographical regions.

Michael Fox, Garden Making, Board Chair
Gary Davies, BC Business 
Robert Goyette, Reader’s Digest
Niel Hiscox, Canadian Auto Dealer 
Scott Jamieson, Canadian Forest Industries
Mark Jamison, Magazines Canada CEO
Doug Knight, Toronto Life
Pierre Marcoux, Canadian Living 
Kirby Miller, Canadian House and Home
Deborah Morrison, Canada’s History Magazine, Past Chair
Julie Osborne, Maclean’s 
Rob Tanner, Canadian Cowboy Country
Jennifer Varkonyi, Maisonneuve
Lisa Whittington Hill, This
Grant Young, Downhome

Director Biographies

Michael J. Fox is the Publisher and CEO of Garden Making, a quarterly published by Inspiring Media Inc. in Niagara-on-the-Lake. In 2012 he retired from Rogers Publishing, where he had been Senior Vice President, Circulation & Development. He has been involved in circulation for more than 30 years, including 10 years leading consumer marketing at Rogers. He has helped foster the introduction of new channels of sale for magazine circulation, including championing the development of what is now Magazine Canada’s annual co-operative direct marketing subscription campaign. He is a director of Magazines Canada and serves on the Public Affairs and Postal Committees. Michael was the Circulation Management Association of Canada’s Magazine Marketer of the Year in 2002 and was named Magazines Canada Volunteer of the Year in 2005.

Gary Davies is President of Canada Wide Media Ltd. Based in Burnaby, B.C., Canada Wide is the largest independent magazine publisher in Western Canada, publishing such well-known brands as BCBusiness and BC Home and Garden. Davies was formerly the Executive Vice-President of RedPoint Media Group Inc. in Calgary, where he worked for more than 15 years. He most recently served as Past President of the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association. He presently sits on the Board of the Magazine Publishers of British Columbia and on the Board of BPA International.

Niel Hiscox is President of Universus Media Group Inc., a business-to-business and custom publisher based in Markham, Ontario. He is the former vice president of CLB Media Inc., publisher of more than 25 different publications. He is the founding publisher of Green Business, Energy Management Canada, Canadian Auto Dealer, Affaires automobiles, Transport Routier and Highwaystar magazines. He is the former president of the Automotive/Aviation division of Annex Publishing & Printing Inc. Niel is also a past and founding member of KPMG’s Digital Strategies practice, a management consulting practice providing internet strategy and advisement to senior business leaders in Canada and internationally. His industry involvement includes being Executive Committee member and Board member of BPA Worldwide, Board member of Magazines Canada, and former Board member of the Canadian Business Press. He is also advisory committee member for Georgian College’s Advertising and Marketing program.

Scott Jamieson is group publisher and editorial director at Annex Business Media. Jamieson has been involved in B2B publishing for more than 20 years, originally with Southam BIG in Montreal, then as a partner in a Quebec-based forestry publishing company, and then, for the past nine years, at Annex Business Media, Canada’s largest privately-held B2B media company. He has been involved in the launch of two successful magazines, the most recent being Canadian Biomass, and he is actively involved in Annex’s expansion into non-traditional revenue streams, including sponsored microsites, marketing services, events, training, contests, custom publishing and more.

Mark Jamison is the Chief Executive Officer of Magazines Canada, responsible for all of the association’s operational activity. He joined the organization in 1999. An association executive for over 25 years, Mark has held senior positions in cultural, business, education and community not-for-profit organizations. He serves as a director on the Boards of Access Copyright, the Book and Periodical Council and the Canadian Copyright Institute. He is also a Co-Chair member of the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Magazine Industry Advisory Committee.

Douglas Knight is President of St. Joseph Media, publisher of Toronto Life, Fashion and several more of Canada’s leading magazines and web properties. Doug is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the London School of Economics, and is the former Publisher and CEO of both The Financial Post and Toronto Sun. He was also the founding chair and CEO of ImpreMedia, LLC, the largest Spanish-language newspaper company in the United States. Doug has served on the boards of public and private companies in Canada and the U.S., along with numerous arts, industry and community organizations. He is Chair of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Foundation and a director of Writer’s Trust of Canada.

Pierre Marcoux is Senior Vice President of the Business and Consumer Solutions Group, TC Media. Pierre began a career in journalism in 1997 in Washington D.C. at Bloomberg News. He later joined the Hamilton Spectator, a daily newspaper founded in1846 in Ontario. He joined TC Media in 2000 as a journalist for Les Affaires, then Assistant Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. In 2003, he was named to the position of Director of Business Development at TC Media. He served as Vice President for the Business Solutions and Book Publishing group in 2006 to 2009. In his present role, he manages the executive team responsible for such titles as Canadian Living, Elle Canada, The Hockey News, Coup de Pouce, Les Affaires and Vancouver Magazine. He is a former Chair of Magazines du Québec. He is a member of Magazines Canada’s Public Affairs Committee.

Kirby Miller is Senior Vice-President and General Manager for House & Home Media. House & Home Media holdings include Canadian House & Home, Maison & Demeure, houseandhome.com, maisonetdemeure.com and House & Home online TV. Kirby has worked in the Canadian publishing industry for 24 years with stints at Magazine Network, Maclean Hunter, Saturday Night and Rogers before joining House & Home Media 14 years ago. He is currently on his third term of the Magazines Canada Board and is a member of its Public Affairs Committee. He serves as Chairman of the Board of the Print Measurement Bureau.

Deborah Morrison is the CEO of Canada’s National History Society, and publisher of Canada’s History and Kayak. She was appointed to the History Society in 2002 and has introduced several program extensions in addition to Kayak: Canada’s History for Kids since her arrival. They include Teaching Canada’s History/Innover en Classe, an educator’s magazine produced in English and French; a children’s illustrated story-writing contest; historical travel tours, as well as several book projects including last fall’s 100 DaysThat Changed Canada, which was Amazon’s top selling history book for the 2011 Christmas season. She has been involved with the Manitoba Magazine Publishers Association since 2004 and currently serves as past-president.

Julie Osborne is the Vice-President of Business Development for Rogers Publishing Limited, which publishes some of Canada’s best-loved consumer and business brands. She is the Publisher of MoneySense and until recently was Publisher of Maclean’s, Canadian Business and PROFIT. In her current role, in addition to MoneySense, Julie is responsible for business development, government and regulatory affairs and distribution for Rogers Publishing. Prior to her move to Rogers Publishing, Julie worked at Rogers Media as Vice-President, Television Distribution. She is a member of the Public Affairs Committee for Magazines Canada and is on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the Writers’ Trust of Canada.

Rob Tanner is President of Tanner Young Publishing Group, an Edmonton based company founded in  1987. In addition to their two signature titles, WHERE Edmonton and Canadian Cowboy Country Magazine, they have published numerous custom titles dating back to 1990.  Rob was also an Executive Producer of the award winning television series Cowboy Country Television, which aired nationally for seven seasons.  Rob has served as president of the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association and has been active on the board of directors since 2001. In addition, he currently sits on the boards of both the Alberta Cultural Industries Association and Alberta Aviation Museum Association.  Rob was honoured in 2009 as Alberta Magazine Publishers Association, Volunteer of the Year, presented by Magazines Canada and more recently was the recipient of the 2011 Alberta Magazine Publishers Association Achievement in Publishing Award.

Jennifer Varkonyi is the publisher of the arts and culture quarterly Maisonneuve, a position she has held since 2008. Under her management, the magazine has won three silver medals and seven gold medals, including Magazine of the Year, at the National Magazine Awards. Varkonyi holds a degree in English Literature from Concordia University. Originally from Saskatoon, she lives in Montreal with her husband and two children.

Lisa Whittington-Hill is Publisher of This Magazine. She also works as a circulation and marketing consultant for small magazines and consults in the area of fundraising as part of Magazines Canada’s Travelling Consultants Program. She serves on the board of Magazines Canada and is Chair of its Consumer Marketing Committee. She also serves on the board of the National Magazine Awards.

Grant Young has been in the publishing business for 23 years. He is owner of Downhome Publishing Inc. the publisher of Downhome Magazine, Atlantic Canada’s largest paid circulation magazine. From its head office in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the company employs over 40 employees and has expanded into website development/hosting, book publishing, retail, mail order, product development and product distribution. Grant also owns Auk Island Winery located in Twillingate, Newfoundland

Last Update: Monday, June 10, 2013

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