Summit Business Media Hires Gary Mirkin to Lead Customer Solutions Group across Insurance, Financial and Legal Markets

NEW YORK, Aug. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit Business Media today announced that Gary Mirkin has joined the company as Senior Vice President, Customer Solutions.  Mirkin will lead Summit's Customer Solutions Group, which launched in 2012 to develop strategic, results-driven marketing opportunities for companies in the insurance, financial services, and legal markets.   The group currently offers integrated marketing services, multichannel custom content, webcasts, virtual conferences, custom events, research, and creative services to support clients' strategic marketing goals, including market development, education, thought leadership, and lead generation. 

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Through key hires and investments in 2012, Summit has accelerated the growth of this business over the past 12 months.  Mirkin has enjoyed similar success, most recently as Publisher of The Build Network at Mansueto Ventures, executing strategic partnerships with some of the largest marketers in the U.S., including GE Capital, Deloitte, Principal Financial Group, IBM, Hewlett Packard, Fidelity Investments, Unum, Chubb, UPS, and Saleforce.com.  

"We're committing the company to be a catalyst for growth in these industries by better serving both our professional audiences and our marketing partners.  Building on our current success developing content marketing and integrated solutions in these markets requires additional investment and the recruitment of high-caliber talent like Gary to drive the business forward," said Steve Weitzner, CEO of Summit Business Media.  "Supported by excellent content and program management teams already in place, we expect this group to be our fastest growing business over the next several years."

Two of Summit's veteran editorial leaders, Jamie E. Green and Bryant Rousseau, will join the Customer Solutions Group as market strategists, whose deep industry knowledge and subject matter expertise will provide valuable insights and actionable opportunities for Summit's marketing partners.  Mirkin's team will also include Elliot Markowitz, Director of Strategic Content, and Andrea Mahoney, Director, Integrated Program Management & Events, who have been integral in the growth of the business to date.

"The marketing environment continues to go through a sea change in ways that companies connect with current clients, prospects and the various channels utilized to grow their revenue base," Mirkin said.  "Summit has tremendous equity in its intellectual properties and market penetration that we can exploit to craft custom programs that deliver value and long term ROI for our marketing partners."

Mirkin will take over Customer Solutions from Jeff Patterson, President of Summit's largest market segment, the Insurance Group.  Patterson will drive the company's long-term strategy to fully integrate its portfolio of continuing education and training programs, professional designations, data services, and professional publications with its core media properties in the benefits, life/health, and personal/commercial insurance markets. Patterson has extensive experience in building high-growth professional news and education businesses including four years as CEO of Safari Books Online, a paid-subscription digital library.

"Our goal is to support our professional audiences at every point in their career arc by connecting all the critical resources we offer in an integrated content engine accessible through every available platform," said Patterson. 

In July 2013, Summit announced a similar strategy in the financial services segment with the launch of ThinkAdvisor.com.

About Summit Business Media
Summit Business Media supports the growth and vitality of the insurance, financial services and legal communities by arming professionals with the knowledge and education they need to succeed at every stage of their careers. We provide face-to-face and digital events, websites, mobile sites and apps, online information services, and magazines giving professionals multi-platform access to our critical resources, including Professional Development; Education & Certification; Prospecting & Data Tools; Industry News & Analysis; Reference Tools and Services; and Community Networking Opportunities.

Using all of our resources across each community we serve, we deliver measurable ROI for our sponsors through a range of turnkey services, including Research, Content Development, Integrated Media, Creative & Design, and Lead Generation.

For more information, go to http://www.summitbusinessmedia.com

Media Contact:
Josh Heitsenrether
Vice President, Marketing
201.526.0540 x1224
[email protected]

SOURCE Summit Business Media