Megan St. John, InfoCommerce Group, has seen (and done) it all.

Megan St. John came into the newsletter business in 1980 and has since trod a winding road through the industry, following a career path that really didn't exist when she began.

She worked first for Xerox Learning Systems, publishing a newsletter for secretaries and administrative assistants called Biz. She says, "Working with Ed Shinneman over the next five or six years, we built a nice $10-$12 million business in newsletters, seminars, and other training aides," Megan says.

Then Xerox, having decided they didn't want to be in the direct response business, sold the unit to Times-Mirror. Megan found herself back in the seminar and training business for a few years as vice president of Achieve Global where they also launched several newsletters.

"Part of the business I was involved in there eventually wound up as a part of National Institute of Business Management (NIBM)." (I think that was two acquisitions down the line.)

Phillips Publishing

St. John's next stop, however, was at Phillips Publishing where she headed their electronic commerce group that at one point included 16 titles. "While I was there we launched Electronic Commerce News and Retail Delivery System News. I honestly don't know if either is still being published [after St. John's time, the Phillips business newsletter division was sold to Veronis Suhler which, in turn, became Access Intelligence], but at the time they were very successful newsletter launches."

SIMBA

Next stop: president of SIMBA after founder Alan Brigish had sold it to Cowles. She was there for five years, 1996-2001, and during that period what had been SIMBA was sold again, this time to Primemedia.

"Then they put together an operation under Steve Brill that included SIMBA, as well as the Folio: magazine and conferences and Circulation Management.

"Strategically, that can make good sense. You combine operations that are advertising-supported and event-driven with ones that are subscription-supported. In practice, however, too often the subscription-supported part of the package is the smallest or weakest leg of the three-legged stool."

Even at SIMBA, while the "weakest leg" of the footstool, she noted that subscription revenue was only about 1/3 of their total business along with market research, consulting and events.

"Newsletters were important, but we weren't 'just' or even 'mostly' a newsletter publisher.

"At this point, under the new organization, they really didn't need a president for the SIMBA group, so I set out again to find a new world to conquer. I began my job search this time on Monday morning, September 10, 2001.

"And the whole world was different. I found myself in the consulting business. Not entirely voluntarily, you might say kicking and screaming, but I found it a good fit for me.

"One of my first clients was Nelson Heller (The Heller Report). I helped him run and then sell his operation and he's still happily ensconced at QED, a subsidiary of Scholastic."

InfoCommerce Group

But now she is working as managing director of InfoCommerce Group providing a variety of services for publishers. Founder and president is Russell Perkins, a well-known database information publisher (that used to be called "directories"--his book is Success In Directory Publishing.)

For ICG clients, Megan leads engagements focusing on areas such as product development and evolution, market positioning, customer research, due diligence, and overall corporate strategy.

"Right now Russell and I are focused on growing the company in this amazing time of change. The information business is undergoing fundamental transformation in form and content. It's very exciting to be a part of that change. Our annual Info Commerce Conference in Philadelphia continues to provide a forum of exchange for information publishers focused primarily on the data side of the business.

"Our consulting practice takes a wider view, marrying the 'data roots' with my experience in periodicals, research and events," Megan says. "We work with publishers on strategic assessments across a wide swath of industries--from healthcare to transportation to legal to construction to technologies.

"We've helped with both new product development as well as product transformations. We take a look at whether companies should invest or sell, given current market strategies. We've also helped investors assess potential acquisitions for their market strengths and probable fit. And among all that ICG does, there is a print newsletter, InfoCommerce Report."

"Great time to be in this space"

"It's a great time to be in this space," Megan concludes. "There is so much change going on. Longtime publishers with print legacies are altering the way they do business. New entrants often come with technology savvy but lack the advantage of the publishing DNA. Both have a need to reinforce their central market positions. And all need to understand best practices.

"Our work provides us with a unique position to observe what's working and what's not. Working with a smart partner like Russell and smart clients like ours makes coming to work every day something to look forward to."

InfoCommerce Group, 2 Bala Plaza, #300, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004, 610-649-1200. fax [phone], www.infocommercegroup.com