Keith Sedlak

CCC Chairman

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

CCC Board Member

Marcie Lynn Avram is the Associate Publisher/Marketing and Content Strategy of Rodale Custom Publishing, where she leads the group’s market outreach efforts and client program development initiatives. Marcie joined Rodale in 2002, the launch year of Rodale Custom Publishing. She brings a 22-year multi-discipline experience package, spanning content marketing, brand and direct/database marketing, and business development, as well as experience as a working journalist.

As a CCC Board Member for the past 3 years, Marcie has made numerous contributions to major CCC marketing initiatives and is a consistent face at CCC events. Furthermore, she has been a leading supporter for Rodale’s impressive participation in all CCC activities, including advertising in Content magazine, advertising in past CCC/Ad Age custom media sections, and hosting the annual New-York-based Pearl Awards judging event for the past 3 years.

In addition, she has authored numerous industry articles, including pieces in Advertising Age and Content magazine, and is a frequent go-to industry resource.

Marcie has also served on the Board of Forward Face, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping children with facial differences.

Prior to joining Rodale Custom Publishing, Marcie worked at Meredith Integrated Marketing, where she spearheaded a sophisticated marketing effort, including an annual conference dedicated to bringing together industry thought leaders.

Past experience also includes Director of Business Development for the SteinRogan + Partners advertising agency, an agency specializing in information and technology, including content marketing initiatives.

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 credits her Marketing/Journalistic double college major and her post-college experience as a Magazine Publishers Association intern in New York for solidifying her permanent relationship with content.

Kristen Bohn

CCC Board Member

As director of D Custom, a content provider based in Dallas, Texas, Kristen Bohn is familiar with the toughest problems facing marketers today, from downsized budgets to creating messaging for different segments.

She’s responsible for aggressively growing the company’s custom-content business while overseeing all aspects of the division. Clients include Omni Hotels & Resorts, Hewlett-Packard Enterprise Services, Nestlé Purina PetCare, Lennox and the alumni association of Texas A&M University.
As a CCC board member, Kristen has been actively involved in supporting the council’s endeavors while providing the perspective of a boutique agency’s agility and collaborative nature.

When Kristen arrived at D Custom, it was a new division of D Magazine Partners, a company with an award-winning history of magazine publishing since 1974. D Custom was created to leverage the company’s expertise and talents to help other enterprises and organizations find efficient and successful solutions to their marketing needs.

Kristen developed a unique team-based process and a “white-glove service” approach that serves both large and small clients.  She has since generated new revenue streams for the company and expanded core capabilities. D Custom is now a multimedia provider that specializes in marketing strategy and implementation, custom content, website design and more.

She’s also responsible for client relations, business development, new acquisitions and operations.
Kristen received her Bachelor of Journalism degree 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 two rambunctious boxers, Kristen loves to travel the world with her husband, Brian. She plans to visit every continent by 2026.

Philip De Jong

CCC Board Member

Philip De Jong, president of the Charlottesville, Va.-based Journey Group, Inc., has more than 30 years of publishing and media experience. He started his career as an intern-photojournalist with The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press while a fine art and journalism student at Hope College. His first published story, a documentary on the fragile nature of the Lake Michigan sand dunes (which, as a child he fell in love with), appeared in the Sunday magazine edition of The Press.

Following graduation, Philip traveled to the west side of Lake Michigan, where he joined the photojournalism staff of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. For three years he daily cut his teeth on the craft of visual storytelling before making the move from newspapers to magazines.

As a photojournalist, Philip traveled to more than 40 countries providing coverage on a variety of stories before becoming the managing editor and, later, editor-in-chief of Worldwide Challenge magazine. His passion for visual storytelling influenced major design changes at the magazine with then-art director Greg Breeding, resulting in numerous editorial and design awards that continue today.

In 1992 Philip and Greg founded Journey Group with a simple goal: Do great work and be nice to people. Since then, the media landscape has changed radically, yet barely at all. Amid a vast new array of media channels and choices, Journey’s essential goals have never been more important: Tell brand stories that matter. And Journey has done just that for its clients, including Worldwide Challenge magazine, the United States Postal Service, World Vision, Opportunity International, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, World Relief, the University of Virginia, the Evangelical Free Church of America and The Salvation Army.

Philip understands Custom Content Council members face the same industry challenges and changing media landscape. While the digital revolution is well under way, the next chapter is yet to be written. One of his primary board goals is to encourage members to further explore multiple media platforms in the expression of great content for clients. Additionally, Philip will bring representation that gives voice and vision to smaller CCC-member firms like Journey.

Journey Group has been an active member of CCC since 2005, and its involvement has included frequent staff attendance at CCC events and conferences, as well as participation and recognition in the annual Pearl Awards.

Philip lives with his wife, Christine, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Charlottesville, Va. Together, they have five children (two of whom are married), two dogs and a cat. When he’s not cheering on his kids at sporting events, his other passions center around distance running, fly-fishing and house restoration, including Journey’s 108 year-old office building in Charlottesville’s historic district.

Fred Petrovsky

CCC Board Member

As President of Content Marketing at McMurry, one of the nation’s largest marketing communications firms, Fred Petrovsky is one of the most influential and knowledgeable branding 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, UPS, Audi, Amtrak, CBS Television, Samsung, Thomson Reuters, Aon, The Cleveland Clinic, Janus Capital, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Verizon, Baylor Health, and hundreds other corporations. 

In addition to his work with the CCC, 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.

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.

Andrew Seibert

CCC Board Member

Andrew Seibert is responsible for the circulation, advertising and marketing operations of SmartMoney magazine as well as for SmartMoney.com and Custom Solutions, the company’s successful custom publishing arm.  SmartMoney is wholly owned by Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and MarketWatch, among others.

Seibert joined SmartMoney in 1999 as creator and vice president/publisher of the Custom Solutions division, whose printed communications reach more than 13 million investors each quarter.  Over the past ten years, Custom Solutions has become the top custom publisher in financial services, building a roster of more than a dozen blue-chip clients.  The communications created by Custom Solutions have won its clients more than 250 key awards, including STAR, Astrid, Pearl and Xerox PIXI awards. 

Before joining SmartMoney, Seibert was general manager of Money magazine’s Education Services, a division of Time Inc. that focused on retirement and investment-education products, from 1996 to 1999.  He also served as vice president of marketing at a division of GE Capital from 1994 to 1996, and as a marketer at American Express Travel Related Services from 1989 to 1994.

Craig Waller

CCC 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.

Michael Winkleman

Immediate Past 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.