David MacKenzie has run the Confederation Centre of the Arts, a consulting firm, served as a deputy minister in the provincial government and will soon take over Prince Edward Island’s two largest newspapers.
SaltWire Network Inc. president and CEO Mark Lever announced MacKenzie as the regional president for P.E.I. on Thursday.
MacKenzie will be in charge of The Guardian and the Journal Pioneer and serve as part of SaltWire Network’s senior management team in Atlantic Canada beginning Nov. 1.
The 57-year-old Stratford resident said he has always looked for new adventures during his business career.
“Learning is really important to me and in the case of moving to The Guardian . . . and the Journal Pioneer, it’s going to be quite a learning experience as well. But I love that, I relish that and I love the challenge. I also love working with teams to overcome those challenges,” he said.
“The Guardian and the Journal Pioneer have a long history on P.E.I., but they also have a long future.”
While this will be MacKenzie’s first job in the media industry, he said, he is ready and willing to learn from both existing staff and the community it serves from tip to tip. He expects to do a lot of listening as he gets his feet wet in the business.
“I want to meet as many people as I can and listen to them and start finding out more about what they see as the opportunities for the company,” he said.
“I think this Open Up Project is a great opportunity to listen to what people are saying, what they want in their media and in the news.”
MacKenzie has a track record for management success while dealing with multi-million dollar companies and government departments with a staff of a couple hundred people.
“David has a long track record of being a champion for P.E.I.,” Lever said. “And he'll continue with that as the regional president representing The Guardian and the Journal Pioneer. Both SaltWire and its publications on Prince Edward Island are fortunate to have such a great Islander joining the team.”
- David MacKenzie Career Timeline
- May 1995 to July 2001: Capital Commission of Prince Edward Island executive director.
- August 2001 to August 2011: Confederation Centre of the Arts CEO; and CEO of Atlantic Canada House at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games.
- August 2011 to May 2015: Prince Edward Island Department of Tourism and Culture deputy minister; Tourism P.E.I. CEO; and P.E.I. 2014 Inc. board of directors president.
- August 2015 to Oct. 31: MacKenzie Zver Inc. president
MacKenzie said a fundamental philosophy for successful management he believes in is to surround yourself with good people.
One person MacKenzie said he will be leaning on will be The Guardian’s regional managing editor Wayne Thibodeau, who has served as the company’s regional president on an interim basis since shortly after the SaltWire Network purchased the Island media companies in April.
The two are eager to work together.
“His reaction to my appointment has been stellar and for me that’s a huge relief,” MacKenzie said. “I absolutely will be counting on Wayne. He’s proven himself as a leader at The Guardian and the Journal Pioneer.”
MacKenzie is currently president of MacKenzie Zver Inc., a Charlottetown-based consulting firm. His partner, Jodi Zver, will continue to operate the business.
“It’s been a great run and I’ll miss it,” he said. “But what I missed most about being in the consulting world, quite frankly, was the opportunity to work with a good, large number of people.”
MacKenzie said two things attracted him to the new position: the employees and the challenge of the news business globally with declining advertising revenue.
“I thrive working with teams of people and my research on the P.E.I. members of the SaltWire company was very, very positive, very professional. I felt I can learn a lot from that group,” he said. “I felt The Guardian and the Journal Pioneer were special and we could work with them to, not only maintain the current business and their important role they have in P.E.I., but also to grow and to expand.”
MacKenzie said he is looking to build on the news company’s rich history and continue to grow its legacy.
After accepting the new job, MacKenzie said he reflected back on a conversation about a decade ago with former publisher Don Brander, who he worked with through Rotary.
“He told me I should get involved in the newspaper business and I would make a good publisher,” MacKenzie shared. “I never forgot that.”
