Karen Lorimer to receive the National Media Awards Foundation's 2020 B2B Leadership Award
TORONTO, April 27, 2020 /CNW/ - The National Media Awards Foundation proudly congratulates Karen Lorimer, winner of the 2020 B2B Leadership Award. This prestigious award recognizes outstanding career achievement, contributions to the field, and overall leadership of a member of the Canadian B2B media industry.
Lorimer's 40-year career in Canadian media and publishing started in a five-person publishing house as an advertising sales representative. Shortly after, she moved on to Southam Communications, where Lorimer not only participated in all steps of the publishing process (advertising sales, market research, editorial, circulation, and more), but worked on a wide-range of publications (from Process Industries Canada to Verve ). Gail J. Cohen, former Editor-in-Chief of Canadian Lawyer, Law Times and FindLaw.ca, says "the job of publisher was made for [Karen]."
This experience "set the stage for the rest of her career that included Vice-President of Sales and Marketing at custom publisher Dovetail Communications, President of her own consulting company 4-Plus Communications Inc., as well as an instructor at Humber College," recalls Cohen.
In 2005, Lorimer was hired as a Director and Group Publisher at CLB Media Inc., tasked with growing the company's professional publications and launching magazines for in-house counsel and law students. "[T]here was finally someone in the driver's seat who could look after all aspects of the publications," says Cohen.
Niel Hiscox, President of Universus Media Group Inc. and former VP of CLB Media Inc., watched Lorimer "mentor staff both young and old. Under Karen's leadership we launched new print magazines and innovative digital products. Karen improved our revenues and drove new editorial ideas, always with a view to delivering the highest possible quality in everything we did."
CLB Media Inc. was sold to Thomson Reuters in 2010. Lorimer spent nine years there as the Director and Group Publisher of the Media Solutions Division, working on publications that included Canadian Lawyer, Law Times, Canadian Lawyer InHouse, Canadian HR Reporter, Lexpert, Canadian Occupational Safety, and FindLaw Canada.
"Karen's ability to motivate people was extraordinary... She would adjust her approach to each individual to meet his/her needs and adapt to their learning style," says Ivan Ivanovitch, Director, Business Development & Operations, McCarthy Tetrault, on Lorimer's leadership approach while at Thomson Reuters. "Karen would encourage a healthy degree of disagreement to challenge the team's assumptions and beliefs to drive innovation."
Indeed, there's no shortage of praise for Lorimer's leadership: "Karen always stood out as a leading voice for the industry," says Alison Janzen, Director of Marketing & Business Development, Torkin Manes LLP. "Not just a leader of people, she also took a leading role in shaping the Canadian legal magazine industry."
Lorimer was also instrumental as one of the original instructors in launching Humber College's Media Advertising Sales diploma program, and continued to mentor young professionals through teaching at Humber College.
In recognition of Lorimer's 40 plus years of experience in the field of Canadian media and publishing, her commitment as a mentor, and her incredible leadership qualities, the National Media Awards Foundation is thrilled to recognize Lorimer with our most prestigious individual award, the B2B Leadership Award. Congratulations, Karen!
Our thanks to Cision for sponsoring this announcement.
SOURCE National Media Awards Foundation
Lyra Pappin, [email protected]
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