By the time you are reading this, I will be gone.
[more]
... on paternity leave. Ha, gotcha! Happy Halloween. I do look pretty ghostly in the photo, though, right?
Anyway, I wanted to make a few notes for our loyal readers on a rebirth now underway for the leading publishing company in business travel management: Northstar Travel Media and its new
Business Travel Media Group.
Many of you heard that last month
Northstar acquired ProMedia.travel, parent company of
The Beat and our three other key news brands,
Management.travel,
Procurement.travel and
The Transnational. Northstar earlier this year acquired the publishing group that includes
Business Travel News. The newly christened Business Travel Media Group will not only continue to publish all those news and magazine products--as well as continue to produce
events and Elizabeth West's fine Content Solutions business--but it will do so more effectively, with a more powerful staff, and backed by the resources of a formidable and supportive senior leadership.
I must admit, and some of you won't be surprised to read, that when the owners of ProMedia.travel were considering the decision to sell to Northstar, I was skeptical. Maybe I'm never not!
Ultimately, the pros beat the cons and now that we have been part of the new parent company for a month, I am happy to report that so far it's all good. Those of you who know me know that I'm not comfortable with corporate structures and authority, top-down management styles and rules. Many of you told me in your feedback responding to the announcement that you were concerned that
The Beat would change. "Don't lose your edge," some said. "Don't succumb to The Man," etc. Well, I met the man and actually he's pretty cool!
[For those of you now thinking, "He's drinking the Kool-Aid," actually, I prefer Johnnie Walker Blue. But don't bother trying to curry favor by sending me a bottle, or even including Red Sox season tickets with it. Or a luxury trip to St. John. Even if these are a few of my favorite things, our
editorial ethics policy remains in place so, alas, they would be returned or donated.]
I'm convinced that within the larger Northstar group we can do much more than before in service to our readers. And I have seen no indication that we would be restrained from doing so with the same style and independence that you demand.
I'd like to leave you with an introduction of our editorial staff, partly as a practical matter so you know who to contact while I'm out with the newborn ... probably not actually sneaking sips of JWB, but at least fantasizing (hallucinating?) about it during those long nights. Our integration is underway but we expect it to really gel beginning in January. I will apologize for the slower pace of
The Beat as we integrate and I take my leave, but also make a promise that soon enough it will be better than ever.
I'm raising a (scotch) glass to the new editorial team at the new Business Travel Media Group, which I can say without doubt is the best in the business ... To rebirth.
Chris Davis, Executive Managing Editor, Meetings
David Jonas, Executive Managing Editor, Breaking News
Mary Ann McNulty, Executive Editor, Payment & Expense
Jay Boehmer, Senior Editor, Transportation
Michael Baker, Senior Associate Editor, Lodging
Lauren Darson, Associate Editor, Government
Amon Cohen, Contributing Editor
~
Jay Campbell, Editorial Director, Distribution & Technology