Ron Glen

After 13 years at the editorial head of Direct Marketing, Ron Glen is leaving the position. “It’s the longest editorial stint I’ve ever had,” he writes in a farewell editorial, published in the June issue. “I rarely live in one place that long. I’ve had shorter marriages.”

Glen, who turned 65 in March, had planned on retiring, but when offered the opportunity to take the editorial reigns of Contact Management, a sister publication under Markham, Ont.-based Lloydmedia, he couldn’t say no. “I expected to get the summer off,” he says, “but you know, best-laid plans.” The new position, he notes, allows him to “continue to report on a related field without the tyranny of monthly deadlines.”

(Former CM editor Susan Maclean left that title for a full-time contract position with the Ontario Ministry of Health.)

One of Glen’s last projects at DM was a complete redesign, which premiered in May. Changes included a switch to 100% recycled paper, a size-reduction, an increased focus on features, columns and supplements (the word “news” was dropped from the magazine name) and several graphic changes, including a switch in primary colour from yellow to green.

Pat Atkinson

Taking Glen’s place as DM editor is Pat Atkinson. Not one to turn down the chance to write and research (“I’d write Campbell Soup cans if I had the opportunity”), Atkinson’s resumé includes gigs editing a community newspaper, composing scripts for corporate videos, freelance journalism (often covering the IT sector), government consulting and yes, direct-mail campaigning. 

Her strength, she says, is the ability to “take things that are complex and make them readily applicable.”

Much like the magazine industry, direct marketing is changing rapidly in the face of the technological revolution brought on by the Internet. Atkinson says she will address these issues “by soliciting information and advice from experts in areas that are related, but not yet in the career description of our readership.”

She’d also like DM to take a leadership role in the direct marketing community. “I’d like to see Direct Marketing be a poster child for all the things we’re trying to teach our readership…an instigator of trying new, innovative things and seeing how they work.”

Related links

• More on the redesign [Direct Marketing]