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MMPA Board Members
Kevin Dunn | President
Executive Committee
MSP Communications
Kevin Dunn is Director of Digital Operations for MSP Communications, publisher of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Business Monthly, and custom content for Fortune 100 corporations, national associations, and small to medium size business clients. He has overseen four major website launches including the re-launch of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine's website mspmag.com, the launch of Twin Cities Business' first website tcbmag.com, IBM Systems' Magazine's site ibmsystemsmag.com and Delta Sky Magazine's site deltaskymag.com. As the Director of Digital Operations Kevin is responsible for leading and managing the digital strategy for MSP's proprietary and client-based products including websites, email marketing initiatives, revenue and lead generation integration, analytics, social media, and identification of emerging technologies. As a new board member, Kevin has lead a Publisher's roundtable discussion on Social Media and a Circulation roundtable on Video integration. Watch for a reprise of Social Media with a focus on audience development this September.
Prior to MSP Communications Kevin lived in the bucolic borough of Brooklyn, NY while working as General Manager for the newspaper group Brooklyn Paper Publications, now owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Kevin has been with MSP Communications for 21 years.
Sherry Collins | President Elect
Communications Chair
Swirlwind Media, Inc.
Sherry Collins, Chief Creative Force at Swirlwind Media, Inc. is a content specialist with more than 10 years experience in the publications world. She believes that great content is the key to all successful magazine brands. However in the digital era, readers want content that comes to them in multiple ways. Print isn't dead, but it's no longer the only instrument playing.
Her company excels in crafting custom content strategies that create a surround-sound approach for brands that are looking to harmonize their way right into their readers' lives. Sherry believes that the best-executed projects have revenue opportunities for the magazine; capitalize on and strengthen a core competency of the brand in the mind of the reader; and are accessible to the reader at the right time and on the right platform. She spends her days conducting the symphony of pieces necessary to execute those strategies.
Sherry joined the MMPA board in 2010, but has been serving on the Communications committee for the past five years. In her tenure, MMPA’s newsletter, FinePrint, has started a digital edition and increased its frequency. She also serves on a larger committee focused on retooling MMPA’s website and social media presence.
Kathryn Forss | Past President
Executive Committee
DaisyMaeDesign
Kathy began her career designing newsletters and magazines in Chicago, and moved to the Twin Cities in 1996, where she became the art director of Presentations magazine at Lakewood Publications. She stayed at Lakewood from 1996 until 2005, when Lakewood's parent company closed the Minneapolis office and took the magazines to NYC.
Kathy started her own business -- DaisyMaeDesign -- in early 2006, and has been successfully serving clients from the publishing, nonprofit and corporate sectors ever since. In 2007, Kathy decided to get involved with the MMPA, and joined the Excellence Awards planning committee, which she chaired in 2009 and 2010. She remains involved with the Excellence Awards committee, was asked to join the MMPA Board of Directors in 2008, and was elected MMPA Board President in 2011. A more detailed bio, additional contact information and work samples for Kathy are available at DaisyMaeDesign.com.
Susan Niemi | Treasurer
MN Magazine Mingle Chair
Industrial Fabrics Association International
Susan Niemi is associate publisher at IFAI, an international trade association headquartered in Roseville, MN. The association publishes seven trade magazines for the specialty fabrics industry, including Specialty Fabrics Review, which has been published since 1915. More recently Susan has been responsible for launching websites for each of IFAI’s magazines as well as the company website.
After teaching English for several years, Susan transitioned to publishing with a focus on curriculum product development. Her publishing experience spans curriculum, books, music, video, training resources, and magazines. Her business training and experience include strategic planning, product development, developing alliances and partnerships, fund development, marketing, and staff supervision.
Susan’s initial exposure to MMPA was through the awards program in 2002. That year she was part of a team that launched a consumer magazine, Sunday Monday Woman, which won five MMPA awards in its first year. She joined the board in spring 2010.
Amy Gage | Board Member
Membership Co-Chair
Saint Catherine University
Amy Gage is director of marketing and communications at St. Catherine University, where she oversees a 13-person department responsible for rebranding the institution as a comprehensive, woman-centered university. A former journalist, Amy has written and edited for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, where she wrote a column on work-life issues and women in business, Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Minnesota Monthly and the Star Tribune. In 2001 she became director of marketing-communications at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she lives with her husband and son; a second son is away at college. She enjoys running, reading, yoga, family time and community involvement.
Cindy Hayden | Board Member
Lake Superior Port Cities, Inc.
Cindy Hayden is the President of Lake Superior Port Cities, a Duluth-based publishing company that publishes the award-winning Lake Superior Magazine, Lake Superior Travel Guide, books, maps, calendars and other regional merchandise. The website is: www.lakesuperior.com.
Cindy is a Duluth native, graduate of Proctor High School and one of those people who left Duluth for 15 years vowing never to return. She worked for the then Bell System at Wisconsin Telephone and Northwestern Bell/USWest. Cindy returned to Duluth in 1984 to work with her father Jim Marshall on the then Port Cities Magazine. She hired Paul Hayden as Editor and they were later married making the Company a true family business. This Company is 32 years old and employs 12 people with offices at 310 East Superior St.in downtown Duluth.
Cindy has been very active in the community and has served on numerous boards such as the initial Fond du Luth Casino Commission and was the chair of the Duluth Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Great Lakes Aquarium and North Shore Rotary Club.
Cindy has received numerous personal honors, too, and she was especially honored to be named the Business Person of the Year for 2007 by the UMD Labovitz School of Business. In 2006, Cindy, Paul and Jim Marshall were honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Joel Labovitz Entrepreneurial Success Awards.
Aileen Hough | Board Member
Engagement
CSC Publishing, Inc.
For 20 years, Aileen Hough has been a circulation manager for CSC Publishing, a trade magazine publisher, but her 30-year career encompasses many aspects of publishing. From a working in a trade magazine production department, developing and publishing promotional materials, to being a magazine sales and marketing department associate, she has been connected to the industry in many capacities. Currently, she enjoys the challenges within circulation, of being involved not only with traditional print, but also e-newsletters, digital editions, e-zines, Webinars and website branding and marketing programs. At CSC, she has been a part of 5 magazine launches.
Kat Knudson | Board Member
Young Professionals Group Chair
Affinity Media
Kathryn Knudson works in Audience Development/Circulation at Affinity Media. As Consumer Marketing Manager, she strategizes and implements marketing for national consumer brands in the RV & camping, snowmobile, and motorcycle markets. Working with both print & digital magazines as well as websites and social media initiatives, she enjoys collaborating with colleagues in locations across the country, including working with Art Directors and Editors on cover design. She recently joined a team marketing Affinity's business-to-business tradeshows.
Spending her career primarily in consumer magazines, Kat has worked with Utne Reader, Mother Jones, and Adoptive Families (among others) in advertising, marketing, and circulation. Before she shifted into magazines she was at Coffee House Press and the Minnesota Women's Press.
Kat joined the MMPA Board in 2011, leading the Young Professionals Group, after two years of co-coordinating the Audience Development Education Events. She has previously served on the boards of the Perpich Center for Arts Education, PCAE Foundation, and KidsTime Daycare.
She lives in Minneapolis and, apparently, doesn't spend enough time at the computer during her work day -- in her spare time she writes poetry, fiction, and children's literature.
Chris Lee | Board Member
Membership Co-Chair
Midwest home
Chris
Lee is an editor experienced in creating special-interest magazines in
both the consumer and B2B worlds. She knows how to target a community of
readers with content that intrigues as well as informs. She excels at
collaborating with creative staff, encouraging all to contribute their
best efforts to the final product.
She led the redesign and re-launch of Midwest Home magazine, once a free, ride-along supplement to Minnesota Monthly. It is now the premier shelter publication in the Twin Cities market with 50,000 subscribers, an annual Home and Garden Show, the Twin Cities Luxury Home Tour, and numerous media partnerships with professional associations. Chris launched a sister publication, Midwest Home Chicago, and started "Home Dish," Midwest Home's blog (mhmag.com/homedish). When she's not writing about homes and gardens, she's remodeling and redesigning her own.
Ellington Miller | Board Member
Education Series Co-Chair
Rochester Women Magazine
Ellington Miller is the editor of Rochester Women magazine, Rochester Visitor, Celebrations, and Experience Rochester.
She is proud to live in "outstate," where passionate writers and designers are coming out of the woodwork and looking for opportunities to tell great stories. She takes particular interest in encouraging new freelancers to step in to the light and tell the stories that burn inside of them. Ellie believes in the power to change and inspire through writing, and because everyone has a story, there is a need for storytellers.
Ellie joined the MMPA board in 2011. In 2004-05 she chaired the Communications committee and saw FinePrint through a print redesign. Ellie also contracts as a web information architect at Mayo Medical Laboratories in Rochester. She rescues Springer Spaniels, plays the French horn and volunteers in Rochester.
Nora Paul | Board Member
Education Series
Minnesota Journalism Center
Nora Paul is the director of the Minnesota Journalism Center and was the director of the former Institute for New Media Studies at the University of Minnesota, School of Journalism and Mass Communication. She teaches courses in Information Strategies for Mass Communication and Introduction to Mass Communication. From 1991 to 2000 Nora was with the Poynter Institute where she held seminars in news library management, computer-assisted research, and new media leadership. She was editor for information services at the Miami Herald from 1979-1991. Nora is the co-author, with colleague Kathleen A. Hansen, of Computer Assisted Research and Behind the Message: Information Strategies for Communicators, and they collaborated on a Knight News Challenge grant to develop a news game. Her work at the Center focuses on providing professional training and events coordination and her research interests continue in examining the impact of the new media environment on content and evolving digital storytelling forms.
Jared Pfeifer | Board Member
Sponsorship Chair
Grand View Media Group
Jared started his career as an advertising sales representative for Elhert Publishing Group. Currently Jared is a Publisher at Grand View Media Group responsible for two national consumer magazines, one trade magazine, and three industry directories. Jared is responsible for all print and online advertising sales, as well as the overall success and growth of those titles. In addition to his specific titles, Jared is involved in advertising sales for all of Grand View Media’s outdoor titles as well as the overall growth of the company. Grand View Media is based in Birmingham AL, and has 13 printed magazines, one online/digital magazine, and three directories.
Jared started his MMPA board service as the Co-Chair of the newly formed Young Professionals Committee, and has transitioned to chair the Sponsorship committee.
James Tarbox | Board Member
Education Series Co-Chair
North American Media Group
After nearly 30 years in the newspaper business – as both a reporter and copy editor at the St. Paul Pioneer Press – I accepted a buyout offer just as the tsunami now decimating that industry was merely lapping at the front door. In the interim, I freelanced (landing exactly one story in a trade publication, or so I’ve heard; I’ve never actually seen the story in print), taught introductory reporting and editing at MSU-Moorhead, and being in the right place at the right time, landed my current position of editor of The History Channel Magazine, one of the titles put out by North American Media Group of Minnetonka in partnership with A&E Television Networks. I hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from Iowa State University in Ames.
