Less than three months after acquiring Torstar, owners Jordan Bitove and Paul Rivett have announced two new hires to improve the news publisher’s ability to work with advertisers and form partnerships.
On Tuesday, the Toronto Star publisher said that former CEO of MKTG Canada Michael Beckerman would be joining as Torstar’s new chief client officer, while Corey Goodman, former executive vice-president at cannabis company MJardin Group, would join as chief corporate development officer.
Beckerman, who worked at Nike as director of advertising for Europe in the 1990s and most recently as CEO and president at marketing agency MKTG Canada, said that in his new role he will be focused on helping advertisers grow their businesses, and promote “compelling, engaging, and challenging and inspiring content.”
“It’s an exciting time to be at Torstar,” he said. “We’ve got a new ownership group that is ambitious and has a real vision.”
“I think there’s no better time to be in marketing as we get into the intersection of content, technology and analytics.”
Goodman, a lawyer who previously served as general counsel and executive vice-president at MJardin Group, a cannabis company, said his role will focus on joint ventures, partnerships and acquisitions.
He described himself as a “scrappy entrepreneur” and said he was “honoured” to work with Torstar.
“Going up against headwinds is something that really motivates me, so I feel a real level of excitement in challenging some of the stereotypes that people think might keep us from succeeding.”
NordStar Capital, owned by Rivett and Bitove, bought Torstar for $60 million and took it private over the summer. The appointments of Beckerman and Goodman to the executive team, where they’ll report directly to the owners, as well as to the president and CEO of Torstar, John Boynton, are the latest move by the duo as they work to stamp their brand on the company.
“I’ve known Mike for years,” said Bitove. “Here’s a guy who won awards heading up Nike, who was a pioneer for performance with MVP.com and who has done incredible partnership work at MKTG. Michael is recognized as a thought leader and is well respected in the Canadian marketing industry.”
Long-term, Beckerman said he wants to ensure that the relationship between clients and their target audiences grows.
“I’d like to see Torstar perceived as a valued marketing partner for our advertisers in the Canadian business community,” he said.
“I have a good feel for what chief marketing officers are looking for and vice-presidents of advertising are looking for and what advertising agency people are looking for, because I’ve been there, I’ve been in their chair.”
Beckerman said that workplace culture is important to him, recalling a conversation he had with Nike founder Phil Knight over a beer once. When Beckerman asked Knight what his greatest fear was for the company, he didn’t get the answer he was expecting.
“Infighting,” Knight told him.
“It had a profound effect on me,” said Beckerman. “I was working at Nike and did have opportunities, working with amazing athletes and an amazing brand, an amazing product, but in absence of having amazing people around you, you weren’t going to be able to be successful.”
“Every time I go to work, I try to bring out the best in the people around me. And if everybody comes to work, and you think about, ‘How can I bring out the best in the people around me?’ you’re going to have a pretty amazing culture.”
Goodman, for his part, said he’s looking forward to increasing the impact of Torstar and its newspapers through strategic joint ventures, partnerships and acquisitions.
One thing already on his mind is real estate, he said, although he declined to go into specifics.
“There’s certainly some properties out there that are dormant that I think we have to look at,” he said.
With many people working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, Goodman said, there are also new opportunities to “look at where and how we work.”
“I’m not questioning whether we need newsrooms,” he added. “I’m looking at how we produce news — how we used to produce news, how we’re producing news today, and thinking about how we produce news tomorrow.
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“I don’t really believe in the top-down approach to decision making,” he said. “We’re going to study this holistically and I think we’re going to land in a really smart spot.”
Goodman said that the opportunity for “city building,” as well as the reputations of owners Bitove and Rivett, attracted him to the opportunity with Torstar.
“I think the Star is sort of woven into the fabric of our city and being part of what the Star does is really interesting to me.”