About me
Hello, and thanks for visiting my blog!
Can it really be 30 years ago that I got into the media business? Where did the time go?!
I’ve loved working in broadcasting and print publishing in several countries, but for me nothing compares with the excitement of publishing online. It’s the best of all the other media rolled into one instantaneous, interactive, global, multimedia communications channel. Make that millions of channels.
At the moment, I’m looking for a senior position in online publishing where I can use my editorial leadership and management skills to build audience and revenue.
From July 2007 to May 2009 I was Assistant Managing Editor - Digital at the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper. My responsiblities included editorial strategy and content for thestar.com, healthzone.ca, yourhome.ca and parentcentral.ca - sites that attracted 5.5 million users per month and delivered more than 60 million page views.
Before joining the Star, I lived in Auckland, New Zealand, where, in early 2000, I became the founding editor of nzherald.co.nz, the online edition of the New Zealand Herald. When I left nzherald in October 2006 it was profitable and the leading news site in the country, attracting about 1.7 million users per month.
I built my first websites in the late 1990s, including a site for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Auckland.
Earlier in my career, I worked as a broadcast journalist, consultant, trainer and freelance writer. One of my most interesting assignments was teaching broadcast journalism in South Africa, immediately after the end of apartheid in the mid 1990s.
During the late 1980s, my wife and I sailed across the Pacific on our 38′ sailboat. I worked along the way, training broadcasters in about a dozen countries, and consulting to a highly successful commercial radio network.
My interest in electronic communications began in the late 1960s, and I became a licensed radio amateur (”ham”) at age 15.
I have a B.Sc. degree from Trent University, and a Certificate in Higher Eduction from Unitec Institute of Technology. I have also been doing graduate studies in business at the University of Auckland.
If you’d like to talk about multimedia publishing, please post a comment on the blog or contact me here.
Thanks,
Neil
Toronto, Canada
Updated: May 12, 2009