Michael Winkleman
CPC Chairman

Mike Winkleman, president of Dobbs Ferry, NY-based Leverage Media, is a long-time magazine packager, business editor, and journalist. His interest in custom publishing was first piqued in the early 1990s when, as special reports editor at Adweek, he covered developments in the fledgling custom publishing industry. After writing a number of articles about custom publishing for Folio, Mike joined forces, in 1992, with a small New York-based integrated marketing firm to launch what turned out to be a short-lived custom publishing venture called Consultancy Publishing. After that venture folded, Mike went on to develop a specialty in business-to-business custom publishing, running the Business Magazines Division at Faulkner & Gray, leading custom publishing efforts at American Lawyer Media and Chief Executive magazine, and developing custom publications for law firms, management consulting firms, and technology companies. In 2001, he launched Leverage Media, a virtual enterprise dedicated to “thought leadership marketing.” Among the company’s current clients are such law firms as WilmerHale, Goodwin Procter, and Patton Boggs, as well as such outsourcing, technology, and health care companies as Convergys, Neoware, and Hudson Health Plan.

An active member of the Custom Publishing Council since 2002, Mike helped to develop and run the Council’s successful annual awards show, The Pearls; captained the group’s research activities in 2005; and created and taught a full-day course in custom publishing in conjunction with the Center for Publishing at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies. In 2006, he was elected president and chairman of the CPC’s board.

Mike lives in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, with his wife and three children. His wife, Andrea Olstein, serves as Leverage Media’s COO.

Jane Ottenberg

Board Member

Jane Ottenberg, president, started her career on Capitol Hill working for a Maryland senator and progressed to managing a section of a national presidential campaign. Eventually she became involved in the startup of several regional publications. In 1981, she and her husband/partner Richard Creighton founded The Magazine Group. In addition to her responsibilities at The Magazine Group, she serves on the boards of Maret School, the Frederick Abramson Memorial Foundation, and the Georgetown University Child Development Center.

With a strong editorial background, Jane understands the process from the client's point of view and uses that insight to oversee the company and make certain the clients are well served.

Today, The Magazine Group provides print and online custom publishing services, including design, editorial, circulation management, advertising sales and web development, to 66 associations, organizations and corporations. Each year, The Magazine Group produces more than 35 million magazines, making it Washington’s leading custom publisher. With 300 awards and 23 years of experience, the company specializes in helping clients develop strategy, increase readership and find innovative ways to increase revenue.

The Magazine Group has been a member of the Custom Publishing Council since the organization’s founding, taking an active role in its evolution. With a passionate conviction in the power of custom publishing, Jane is deeply committed to expanding the membership of the CPC and helping to fuel the industry’s growth

Joe Pulizzi

Board Member

Joe Pulizzi is founder and chief content officer for Junta42 (www.junta42.com), a content marketing/custom publishing community search engine. Junta42, which launched in 2007, offers a “digg-like” service for marketers, publishers and association professionals who are responsible for content marketing initiatives.

Joe is also president for Z Squared Media, LLC (www.zsquaredmedia.com), a content marketing consulting firm for marketers and publishers. Z Squared Media works with clients to create better content, that ultimately helps generate new and lasting revenue streams.

Previously, Joe was vice president of custom media for Penton Media, Inc., the largest independent business-to-business publisher in North America. From 2000 to 2007, Joe worked to develop Penton Custom Media into one of the leaders in b2b custom publishing, developing custom communication programs for top-level b2b brands in a number of vertical industries; including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Rockwell Automation, Federal Signal and the American Red Cross. Also during that time, Joe served as publisher and editor of B2B Marketing Trends and publisher of Fire Protection Engineering magazine, as well as managing Penton’s reprints, content syndication and database publishing operations.

In addition to Joe serving as a member of the Custom Publishing Council, he recently served two terms as chairperson of American Business Media’s Custom Media Committee. Pulizzi, voted a Northeast Ohio’s “Top Mover & Shaker under 35” by the Cleveland Professional 20/30 club, is co-author of the book Get Content. Get Customers., which will be released winter, 2007.

A former public speaking instructor at Penn State University, Joe speaks around North America about the growing importance and influence corporate content has on business decision makers. Joe resides in Cleveland, Ohio with his wife Pam and two boys (Joshua and Adam). Originally from Sandusky, Ohio (home of Cedar Point), Joe graduated college from Bowling Green State University and received his Master’s Degree at Penn State University.

Craig Waller

Board Member

At 48, Craig heads up the marketing, sales and a significant part of the publishing operations at the leading custom publisher, Pace Communications. Reporting to owner/founder Bonnie McElveen Hunter, Craig made the move from Europe to the US in 2004 to bring his expertise to the dynamically expanding custom publishing sector.

Craig was one of the key players in the rise of the customer publishing agency sector in the UK and a one of the first to recognise its transition from branded magazines to a vital part of the marketing services armoury.

Craig has been involved in custom publishing since the late 1980s and co-founded the Top 5 customer publishing agency, Premier Magazines, in1992. The Company was built around the award winning British Airways publications and Craig was publisher of High Life – one of Campaign Magazine’s “Magazines of the Millennium” – for twelve years. He was also responsible for the growth of “The London Magazine” one of the capital city’s leading property titles and helped devise and launch the PPA award winning “One Line Guide” for Go – the innovative low cost airline.

Omnicom acquired Premier in 1996 and Craig was an active and senior participant in the successful growth of the Marketing Services division of Omnicom – DAS, which also includes such firms as Rapp Collins, Interbrand, Ketchum and Porter Novelli International. He was in the first intake of the Senior Management Program for Omnicom, run by Harvard Business School, and set about growing the international network for Omnicom’s custom publishing division.

Craig is an acknowledged expert on in-flight media and the author of several reports and articles in this field. As President of the IMB (the European In-Flight Media Bureau) in the mid-1990s, Craig led the crusade for airline magazines to be measured on Pan-European Readership surveys against paid for media. At Pace, he has overall responsibility for the in-flight magazines for Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and US Airways.

As an original member of the APA (Association of Publishing Agencies) in the UK, he has also been heavily involved in the acceptance of customer magazines as a mainstream marketing medium. He is a recognised platform speaker and has been a regular judge of the annual APA Awards – the gold standard in the publishing agency sector in that country.

Premier was merged with Redwood, its major rival and stable mate, in 2001. And Craig joined Chime Communications – the leading independent marketing services group in the UK - in mid 2002, with a brief to continue his innovative content work and extend its influence to all areas of stakeholder communications.

Here he re-positioned and re-launched three businesses under the umbrella of Rare Content, taking a custom publishing company, a corporate design business and a web design agency and focussing them as a new-wave, stakeholder publishing group. Rare Content produced the UK’s first large scale CD Rom customer magazine for loyalty and travel leader, Air Miles, in December 2003.

Born in Wales, brought up in East Africa and a graduate of Durham University, he is an active sportsman (although he finds his cricketing skills in little demand), a wine enthusiast and inveterate traveller. He now lives in Greensboro, NC, with his wife and two daughters.

Keith Sedlak

Board Member

Keith Sedlak’s background is one of varied experience, having worked on both the client and publishing/agency side of the business.  The marketing experience he earned early in his career on the client side while at Seiko Corporation was invaluable in understanding the inner workings of a client’s needs as they relate to marketing plans, budgeting and strategy.  This unique perspective enables Keith to identify potential prospects at the appropriate time and what their propensity for custom communications may be and, more importantly, what value those communications may provide.

Keith has spent a considerable amount of time in sales and business development.  These years include selling for healthcare trade magazines while at Advanstar Communications, where he learned the dynamics of what it takes to create magazines and the resources needed from planning, design, editorial and distribution. 

Having spent nearly 4 years representing The Wall Street Journal in advertising sales and as manager of Global Reports, the knowledge Keith gained serves as the foundation for his current daily decisions within Meredith Integrated Marketing in ensuring they create the most respected custom communications possible.  Keith’s experience working within Dow Jones adds tremendous value to his daily responsibilities and editorial credibility.

Working for 4 years on the digital side of the business for Alta Vista and Lycos, Keith has a unique understanding of online media and the value it offers.

At Meredith Integrated Marketing, Keith and his team have already begun embracing this evolution with their offerings within the business of custom publishing by adding unique interactive services and capabilities that will be mandatory for all custom publishers/communication firms in the years to come.

The past 3 ½ years working for Meredith Integrated Marketing and managing Business Development, Marketing and Advertising has taught him about business and allowed him to understand the value custom communicators provide across multiple platforms. 

Marcie Lynn Avram

Board Member

Marcie Avram is the Associate Publisher/Marketing and Business Development of Rodale Custom Publishing.

Prior to joining Rodale Custom Pulbishing, Marcie worked at Meredith where she spearheaded a sophisticated marketing effort, including a proprietary quarterly newsletter, Brandcom, and an annual gathering, the Brandcom Forum, dedicated to bringing together industry thought leaders.

Marcie has authored numerous industry articles, including “Database Identify Best Prospects” in Advertising Age and “The Role of Advertising in Custom Publishing Sales,” part of the first CPC magazine. Marcie also bylined a piece in the most recent Ad Age Custom Media section, this past January.

Prior to Meredith, Marcie was Director of Business Development for the SteinRogan + Partners advertising agency, an agency specializing in information and technology, including magazine brand positioning and custom publishing. Here, Marcie led the team to drive new business for several SteinRogan custom clients.

Marcie began her professional career as a reporter and editor for Gralla Publications, a major business-to-business publisher. Here her work was recognized by a Jesse Neal Award for Excellence in Business Publishing, as well as multiple other journalistic kudos.

Marcie also credits her post-college experience as a Magazine Publishers Association intern in New York for solidifying her original interest in publishing.

Fred Petrovsky

Board Member

As President of Custom Media at McMurry Inc., one of the largest providers of such work on the planet, Fred Petrovsky is one of the most influential and knowledgeable custom media/publishing experts. He has been with McMurry since 1990, making him one of the senior leaders in the industry, and has been instrumental in the business’s growth. 

Fred’s division produces multi-media custom work for an impressive portfolio of clients, including The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Amtrak, CBS Television, IBM, Office Max, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, The Cleveland Clinic, Janus Capital, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Waste Management, Baylor Health, and more than a hundred other corporations. 

He serves on the Board of Directors of the Western Publications Association (WPA), and is a frequent speaker at MPA, Folio, WPA, PRSA and IABC publishing conferences and meetings. He holds an MFA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Arizona, is an Accredited Business Communicator within the International Association of Business Communicators, and is an accomplished writer—his first novel, Frank, was published by AOL Time Warner in 2001. 
In 2004, Fred represented the CPC at the Association of Russian Corporate Media, the CPC equivalent in Russia. He then presented an overview of his findings to the CPC at its Fall 2004 membership meeting.
Fred has been a frequent roundtable moderator at CPC membership meetings, and was a featured moderator at the 2004 CPC Chicago meeting at Northwestern University.
He currently serves on the Content ’08 planning committee, and has been a driving force at McMurry for its continual and constant support of all CPC activities, including being a charter advertiser in Content; taking two of the paid slots in the CPC-sponsored Readex surveys; and advertising in CPC’s occasional Advertising Age inserts.

Prior to joining McMurry, Fred held positions with Phoenix Home & Garden Magazine, Arizona Office of Tourism, Valley of the Sun United Way, and the City of Scottsdale. He lives in Scottsdale with his wife Amy and children Mara, Brian and Rayna.

Kristen Bohn

Board Member

For Kristen Bohn, custom publishing isn’t just something that she does; it is something that she is passionate about. Kristen is the Group Publisher of D Custom, a well-respected, Dallas-based company she has been with for four years. In her publishing career, she’s acquired national accounts such as Sally Beauty, EDS, and Omni Hotels. As Director of D Custom, she’s responsible for aggressively growing the custom publishing business, while overseeing all aspects of the division.

Alongside D Custom, Kristen has been actively involved in the CPC by participating in meetings and supporting the CPC in endeavors such as advertising in Content magazine and sponsoring the first Custom Content Conference. Kristen offers diversity to the board similar to the majority of CPC members that do not fall into the class of ‘the big Players’. As a member of the CPC board, Kristen hopes to provide the perspective of a boutique custom media agency with ties to traditional print publishing.

Kristen received her Bachelor of Journalism, with an advertising emphasis from the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. Prior to working with D Custom, Kristen held positions at American Express Incentive Services, New Edge Networks and Intermedia Communications Inc.   

In addition to spending time with her rambunctious boxer, Kristen loves to travel with her husband, Brian. By 2026, Kristen plans to have visited every continent. 

Susan Humphrey

Board Member

As project manager for the Custom Publishing division of WiesnerMedia, Susan Humphrey acts as a client liaison, ensuring that client needs and production schedules are both met with the utmost care. She brings over fifteen years of magazine marketing and circulation experience in Denver and the Rocky Mountain region to the Custom Publishing division. Susan has initiated a complete re-vamp of marketing materials for the division; managed the re-launch of their website (www.custompublishingco.com); created an e-newsletter to increase the frequency of client and prospect communication; created workflow processes to enable better and more efficient communication to prospects and clients; launched Wiesner’s emedia offering with on-demand webcasts; and welcomed six new clients.

The Custom Publishing division of WiesnerMedia is a 25-year old, Colorado-based publishing firm serving local and national markets with its high-end financial and lifestyle publications. As seasoned publishers, the folks at WiesnerMedia recognize the marketing strength of a custom magazine, understand its potential to complement sales and advertising efforts, and in some cases, even becoming a profit center for organizations.