Dan Orum
President
contact: dan [at] afar [dot] com
Dan Orum's consumer media career has been an eclectic 30-year romp of print and digital innovation. He has created products with a vast array of companies including the Oakland A's, the San Francisco 49ers, IDG, PC World, Macworld, Publish, Medior, AOL, Time Inc., Sunset, Harper Collins, Oxygen, Oprah Winfrey, Weider Interactive, BestBuy, Lucas (Star Wars), and Gamepro. At various times in his career he has held the titles of CEO, president, publisher, GM, VP of marketing, VP of business development, circulation director and consultant. Dan played college basketball at the University of Nevada, and after graduating from the University of California–Davis he went on to professional basketball career in Belgium and in France, while teaching at a secondary school in Paris as well. While at IDG, Orum spent a year traveling the world advising international business units on best publishing practices.
Derek Butcher
CTO and Chief Architect
contact: derek [at] afar [dot] com
Derek Butcher has over 12 years of experience in media and technology with companies such as The Industry Standard, IDG, Disney Internet Group, and Infoseek. As Vice President and General Manager of The Industry Standard, he relaunched the internet brand as a new form of online media property. Prior to that, Butcher served as Vice President and CTO of InfoWorld Media Group, where he spearheaded technology initiatives including web publishing systems, content redistribution and syndication, and web serving capacity. Derek also served as Senior Engineering Manager at Disney Internet Group, where he was responsible for the development of the Infoseek search engine portal, as well as assisting with the integration of espn.com and abcnews.com.
Jane Palecek
Design Director
contact: jane [at] afar [dot] com
Jane is the recipient of numerous awards for her magazine design work, including multiple National Magazine Awards (the “Ellies”) for her design as founding art director of the Hippocrates and Health magazines. Jane has also served as art director of Mother Jones, and created the look, logos, and design templates for a number of new and redesigned magazines, including Yoga Journal, Dwell, and Natural Solutions.
Julia Cosgrove
Executive Editor
contact: julia [at] afar [dot] com
During the last 11 years, Julia has been a writer and editor at media companies big and small, including MTV Networks, Time Out New York, BusinessWeek, and the Meredith Corporation. She last served as deputy editor of the DIY design magazine ReadyMade. During her tenure, the magazine was a finalist for a National Magazine Award in general excellence. Prior to making stuff at ReadyMade, Julia was part of the original launch team behind Time Out New York Kids, a spinoff of Time Out New York. Her obsessions include the writer Joan Didion, palm trees, and Paris in the 1950s.
Jeremy Saum
Managing Editor
contact: jeremy [at] afar [dot] com
After working for four years in custom publishing, Jeremy took off with his wife to travel the world for a year and a half. Having slept in the shadow of Mt. Everest, slid down a Chilean volcano on their rear ends, and innertubed with glowworms in New Zealand, they returned to San Francisco. There, Jeremy worked as the managing editor of Diablo magazine and then as the associate managing editor of Via, a regional travel publication published by AAA.
Laura Simkins
Audience Marketing and Planning Director
contact: laura [at] afar [dot] com
Laura was a part of the original launch team for Dwell and, during her eight year tenure there, grew circulation over 500% to a rate base of 325,000. She was actively involved in the development of dwell.com and Dwell on Design conferences. Laura also served as VP, Consumer Marketing for 8020 Media and JPG magazine, helping to build innovative new web programs to tap an online community member base of over 195,000. Laura is a two-time CM Circulation Excellence award winner and was responsible for Dwell being listed in Capell’s as one of the top ten best performers in circulation, three years running. Past experience also includes stints at Health and Mother Jones magazines.
