The Team

Our team includes full-time Associates with a broad range of senior management and consulting experience in print and electronic media. In addition, our nationwide network of BMR Consultants brings industry experts with highly specialized skills to address client needs on a project-by-project basis.

Senior Associates

Consultants

Senior Associates

J. Peter Kiers, President

As President and founding principal of BMRA, Peter has evaluated business development opportunities, reformulated publishing and marketing strategies, and created long-range business plans, as well as shorter term operational plans and budgets, for a variety of print and broadcast media, including not-for-profit publishers, trade publishers, university presses, college publishers, magazines, newspapers, radio syndicators, and public television stations. His areas of expertise include strategic planning and finance as well as mergers and acquisitions.

Previous positions include: Chief Financial Officer, Forbes Magazine; Vice-President of Marketing, Planning and Corporate Development, Harper & Row; and consultant, McKinsey & Co. Peter has a BS in Engineering from Stanford and a MBA from Harvard.

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Walter Parsons, Senior Associate

Walter is an advisor to management on strategic thinking and planning, organization development / culture / architecture, mergers and alliances, financial management, new ventures, and operations. He joined BMR in 2001. His background includes experience in for-profit and not-for-profit organizations including 10 years as a financial and planning executive with Exxon Corporation. For 15 years he was the Chief Operating Officer for Seattle's public television station, KCTS, an early pioneer and leader in high-definition and digital production and distribution. Parsons was also President and co-founder of KCTS' for-profit subsidiary.

For more than twenty years Parsons has been an active member and leader of not-for-profit boards and currently serves on the boards of an art museum, a K-12 independent school and a poetry publisher.

He has an MBA from Columbia University, an MS in engineering from Stevens Institute and a BS in engineering from the University of Michigan.

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Peter Massik, Senior Associate

Peter Massik has extensive book publishing and internet experience, pairing a general industry background with a special focus on electronic content distribution, internet software, and e-commerce. He brings a broad business and marketing perspective while working with clients on strategic planning, business modeling, competitive analysis, and acquisition assessment. His consulting credentials include previous experience as a management consultant with Ernst & Young.

He was the Vice President for Product and Content at Topica, an email list hosting service provider and content portal. As Director of Product Marketing for Travelocity.com, Peter was responsible for all website and email content—editorial and multimedia—for Travelocity’s industry-leading Destination Guides.

Peter holds a BA from Harvard University and a MBA from Stanford University.

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Patrick Bernuth, Senior Associate

BMR clients benefit from Patrick Bernuth's exceptionally wide experience in senior level publishing management positions. In recent years, he was Vice President and General Manager of Congressional Quarterly Books and President of Congressional Quarterly Staff Directories, Inc. Over a period of 14 years Patrick served in a variety of management positions with the CBS Publishing Group, including: Acquisitions & Planning Analyst; Business Manager, Field & Stream Magazine; Editor and General Manager, Field & Stream Book Club, and President, Praeger Publishers. He was Vice President and Publisher of the Official Facsimile User's Directory, an early electronic database and directory business in the facsimile field.

In addition to his strong management background, Patrick is a seasoned consultant, working with clients in long range planning and on editorial and marketing assignments for commercial, academic and non-profit institutions. Consulting clients have included: The San Francisco Chronicle, Island Press, The Rand Corporation, Garland Publishing, the Stanford University Library System, The American Association for the Advancement of Science, The Urban Institute, The Brookings Institute , The Annenberg/CPB Project, Johns Hopkins University Press, The Smithsonian Institution and others.

Patrick has served two terms as a member of the Executive Council of the American Association of Publisher's Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division. He also serves on the Publishing Advisory Board at the Brookings Institute. He is a past President of the Washington Book Publishers Association and is currently President of the Board of Trustees of Princeton University Press.

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John D. Hershberger, Senior Associate

With over 25 years of experience in commercial and public broadcasting and cable, John brings a multitude of strengths to BMR clients. He is the former President and CEO of a successful public television station where he also launched a separate cable channel and produced nationally distributed programming. With advanced management training from Harvard and Cornell Universities, John's management and leadership experience is applicable over a wide range of business situations.

Now beginning his eighth year with BMR Associates, he is an experienced consultant and a valuable asset in strategic planning, developing alliances and partnerships, community relations, board relationships, internal communications, marketing and fund-raising. His four years as Associate Professor of Communications Studies at the University of Oregon provides another dimension to his media background.

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Consultants

Pete Alcorn, BMR Consultant

Pete Alcorn advises publishing clients on strategic issues related to emerging technology and marketing. Pete's expertise spans the fields of book publishing, e-learning, and software. He has refreshingly clear insights about where these industries are headed and the opportunities that are emerging.

As the CEO of NetRead, Inc., Pete has developed industry-leading tools for electronic merchandising and promotion. NetRead's clients include leading book publishers such as HarperCollins, O'Reilly & Associates, ABC-Clio, Coriolis, INSPEC, and Cambridge, Harvard, and Princeton University Presses. Pete's work prior to founding NetRead included deep expertise in the college textbook industry, where he wrote, edited, and managed major basal textbooks on computer technology for McGraw-Hill, Southwestern, and Thomson. Pete has also worked in the professional and training markets for Sun Microsystems and USWeb Learning.

Pete's work at NetRead has given him an exceptionally broad and cutting-edge knowledge of the book industry, especially with respect to technical developments. His insights are especially valuable in helping publishing executives develop or evaluate the role of technology in their strategic plans.

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Mark Brokering, BMR Consultant

As a consultant to publishers and direct marketers, Mark Brokering offers deep experience and expertise in marketing, direct mail, online marketing, and other promotional and editorial services. For more than two decades, Mark has worked in a variety of publishing markets, including high tech, professional, educational, academic, religious, and general trade. Much of his work has focused on reaching vertical markets through direct marketing. In the mid-90s, he became involved in developing corporate web sites. More recently, he oversaw the design and strategic development of O'Reilly & Associates' highly successful Web site (oreilly.com)--an online marketing vehicle that today attracts more than one million unique visitors per month.

Mark was recently promoted to Vice President of Sales and Marketing at O'Reilly. Because of recent promotions and new responsibilities, Mark is available on a limited basis for BMR consulting assignments. Before joining O'Reilly, he spent 10 years at HarperCollins in a variety of positions, including Vice President of Religious Books and Vice President of Direct Marketing. Clients have included Jossey-Bass Publishers, O'Reilly & Associates, Augsburg-Fortress, HarperCollins, Wm. B. Eerdmans, Orbis Books, Hunter House, Plough Publishing House, and KQED Books.

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David Brugger, BMR Consultant

David Brugger has his own consulting firm and works with BMR on projects that benefit from his particular expertise and talents. His senior level telecommunications management, leadership and consulting experience at the local, state, national and international level make David an unusually valuable resource for BMR clients.

He was president and CEO of the Association of America's Public Television Stations (APTS) in Washington, DC (1988-2001) leading the advocacy, public policy and regulatory organization on behalf of the nation's 352 public television stations. Prior to APTS, he was the senior vice president for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

In a recent BMR project he helped California's public television stations create a new association to pursue joint endeavors and funding on a statewide basis. He has also assisted national and regional organizations in developing strategic plans and initiatives, and restructuring organizations for success in a digital era.

His previous experience in television includes a variety of management, operations and production positions with the Iowa Public Television Network; WUFT-TV/FM in Gainesville, FL; WCBS and WNYC, New York; and WDUQ-FM and KDKA-TV, Pittsburgh.

Among his many honors are public television's highest honor, the Lowell Award, the Distinguished Service Award from Eastern Public Radio Network, the Award of Excellence from the American Society of Association Executives and Excellence in Programming from NET.

David completed the Harvard University Executive Management Program. He earned a master's degree with a concentration in broadcast management from Brooklyn College and a bachelor's degree in radio/television journalism from Duquesne University.

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Craig Havemeyer, BMR Consultant

Craig Havemeyer began his relationship with BMR in 1994 after more than 15 years in senior positions with leading direct marketing firms, such as Doubleday Book Clubs in New York, International Masters in Los Angeles and Meredith in Des Moines. Havemeyer also spent 11 years in information systems management with RCA Corporation. Craig's media industry consulting clients range from Chronicle Books and MJI Broadcasting to Louisiana Public Broadcasting.

From 1996-2000 he was Vice President, Direct Marketing for a mid-sized advertising agency, developing leading-edge database-driven marketing activities for clients. In addition to management and consulting expertise, Craig brings BMR clients a solid marketing theory and research perspective. He is an Adjunct Professor at Drake University, teaching graduate and undergraduate marketing courses. Craig is active in the Iowa American Marketing Association chapter, has given presentations at many Direct Marketing Association conferences and has been published in Electronic Retailing and Nursery Retailer magazine.

Havemeyer holds both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in engineering from Cornell University.

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Carla Ruff, BMR Consultant

Carla Ruff brings to BMR clients specialized expertise in sales, marketing and distribution of hard copy and electronic books. Based in San Francisco, Carla has worked in book publishing for over 20 years. Beginning as a sales representative for Random House, she went on to become the sales and marketing director at Nolo Press, and also at Sierra Club Books. She helped launch HardWired, the innovative book division of Wired Magazine. Carla has worked with the Rand Corporation, O'Reilly & Associates, Varsity.com, GaultMillau Publications, Publishers Group West, Harper San Francisco, Peanut Press, Digital Owl and many others. Her areas of expertise include: mapping strategies for digital sales, marketing, and content development; development of multiple channels for sales of electronic content; strategic business partnerships for publishers and technology companies; and analysis of market trends.

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Eugene Schwartz, BMR Consultant

Eugene Schwartz is a publishing consultant, writer and columnist who follows technology, e-commerce and business trends in the independent and mainstream publishing sectors. He is Editor at Large of ForeWord magazine, and is President of Consortium House. Eugene specializes in business, financial, marketing, strategic alliance, rights and distribution strategies for p-book, e-book and multiple media publishers, and in asset acquisition and sales, electronic publishing and book production.

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