After several years of partnering with third-party publishers to produce its Snow Business magazine, the Snow & Ice Management Association (SIMA) and its board of directors made a strategic decision to publish the publication in-house beginning in 2017.
Industry veteran and former Snow Business team member Leslie Boomer was hired in summer 2016 to spearhead the transition. The magazine’s core personnel remain, with the editorial, design and sales staff joining the SIMA team. In addition to Boomer, who is leading audience development and overall publishing initiatives, the SIMA Snow Business staff includes:
- Editorial Director Cheryl Higley is responsible for the overall creation and direction of the magazine’s content as well as digital initiatives and custom publishing content. She has worked on behalf of Snow Business magazine for 12 years. She also leads the peer-driven Editorial Advisory Committee comprised of snow and ice management professionals from across the United States and Canada.
- Art Director Lisa Lehman, who has managed the magazine’s design for 12 years, continues in her role. In addition, she manages brand standards and marketing collateral for SIMA and will manage the magazine’s production and printer relationships.
- Sales & Account Development Manager Alison Blasko continues in her role as the primary touch point for the magazine’s advertisers, creating digital and print programs designed to maximize their investment in the magazine, SIMA and the professional snow and ice management industry.
The decision to self-publish the magazine was seen as an opportunity to make a significant, long-term investment in the development of one of SIMA’s greatest membership benefits as well as to grow and advance the association and the marketplace. As publisher, the SIMA Snow Business team will be able to develop a quality audience development and editorial strategy that furthers SIMA’s mission to empower snow and ice management professionals for success.
“Building on over a decade of success with Snow Business as well as our 2016 audience development efforts, we are enthusiastic for what the future has in store. As an association and publisher, we are committed to continued refinement and efforts to maintain the highest audience standards. SIMA is well prepared and will provide its partners and members with a top-quality distribution list to support sustainability and growth for 2017 and beyond,” Boomer says.
To subscribe to Snow Business magazine, click here to make sure you don’t miss an issue for 2017.
'Being a stakeholder means reviewing a draft of proposed best practices and providing insight based on experience and knowledge.'
By Gerry DuBreuil, CSP
Over the past few years, I’ve participated as a stakeholder on several of SIMA’s Best Practices projects. It’s been interesting being behind the scenes and seeing how these new industry guidelines are developed.
Being a stakeholder means reviewing a draft of proposed best practices and providing insight based on experience and knowledge. SIMA compiles all stakeholder comments, reviews them and finalizes a set of best practices. Stakeholders are offered a final review of the best practices before they are published.
The process doesn’t end there, however. SIMA provides the guidelines to anyone in the industry, and there is an open-door policy. Anyone at any time can recommend edits or changes to best practices. The goal is to create a transparent process that adjusts to changes and needs over time, while ensuring quality reviews of information.
SIMA is now entering a new phase of best practices creation. This fall, SIMA released the Best Practices Guidelines for Sustainable Salt Use. Next, SIMA is gearing up to conduct a stakeholder review process tied to how facilities and property managers create RFPs for snow services.
SIMA has tried to make the guidelines as accessible as possible and recently created a new Best Practices page where visitors can download the best practices individually or in a convenient all-in-one package. To download your copy, visit www.sima.org/bestpractices.
I truly enjoyed the opportunity to serve as a stakeholder and felt it was a great way to gain perspective from multiple sources. I encourage anyone in the industry who wants to get involved and share their expertise to become a SIMA stakeholder content reviewer. Email Brian@sima.org to volunteer.
Gerry DuBreuil, CSP, is manager at R&D Paving in Franklin, NH. Contact him at Gerry@rdpavinginc.com.
