- Jim Martin, President and Chief Executive Officer
- William "Howie" Hibbs, Vice President and General Manager, Tucson
- Andrea Hood, Vice President of Marketing
- Ken Minniti, Vice President and Director of Publisher Recruiting and Development
- Howard LaGraffe, Director of Publisher Development
- Eric Hibbs, IT Manager
- Tyler Hardekopf, Vice President of Creative Services
Since joining Sunshine Media, Inc. in August 2003, Jim Martin's distinguished leadership has ensured the growth of the organization and defined its long-term objectives. Mr. Martin holds responsibility for all Sunshine Media operations, including the Independent Publisher Network, all Scottsdale-based operations including sales, marketing, finance, recruiting and human resources, and the Tucson-based computer-to-plate printing and distribution plant.
Most recently, Mr. Martin served as president and CEO of Generic Media, Inc., a venture capital-backed, digital media software company based in Palo Alto, CA. Prior to this role, he was senior vice president of America Online, Inc., serving from 1999-2001 as general manager of Netscape Communications, Inc. His responsibilities for the $500 million business unit included overseeing Netscape's entire brand portfolio: Netscape Browser Development, content programming, product and service development, engineering, sales & marketing, operations, human resources and finance.
Mr. Martin is one of the industry's most respected managers and publishers. His background includes 15 years with International Data Group (IDG). He served as President and CEO of three different IDG business units-Computerworld, Inc., InfoWorld Media Group and Macworld Communications, Inc.
During his tenure with IDG, Mr. Martin was successful in building strong teams that drove significant sales revenue, profit and market share growth, rapid circulation expansion and the worldwide development of IDG's leading brands. He received recognition through IDG Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in 1989 and 1997, and the Annual IDG Chairman's Award for Outstanding Leadership in 1991.
Before joining IDG, Mr. Martin held senior publishing and executive sales roles at Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, Golf Digest and Tennis magazines, and Playboy, Inc.
Mr. Martin attended Penn State University and completed an executive education program at Harvard Business School.
William "Howie" Hibbs is the General Manager of Sunshine Media Printing, Inc., located in Tucson, AZ. He leads the entire operations at the printing facility ensuring every Sunshine Media magazine and reprint is of the highest quality.
Mr. Hibbs is responsible for managing the strategic direction of our state-of-the-art, computer to plate printing plant consisting of over 7000 sq ft, equipment valued at over $3 million and printing and distributing seven magazine brands throughout the US and Canada.
Mr. Hibbs was instrumental in establishing Sunshine Media Printing, Inc. in the early '90s and has served as general manager since 1994. During his tenure, he has facilitated the plant's growth to its current standing as a leading edge, all-digital printing and distribution facility.
Mr. Hibbs entered the publishing business after a long and distinguished career in the United States Air Force, from which he retired in 1991. While in the Air Force, Mr. Hibbs worked as an aerial photographer, fraud specialist for the Office of Special Investigation, and law office manager for the Law Center at Ogden Air Logistics Center on Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah.
Andrea Hood is responsible for developing the strategic marketing direction of Sunshine Media, Inc. Her primary role is to maximize national branding, penetration of existing customers, increase lead generation and aggressively enter new market segments. She manages the entire marketing process from market analysis, strategy development and program management through marketing communications and media relations.
Mrs. Hood brings over 18 years of extensive strategic marketing experience, including branding, product marketing, program development and execution, and project management.
Mrs. Hood joined Sunshine Media in February 2004. She previously worked as a consultant, devising and implementing numerous long-term strategic marketing plans for multiple businesses in the greater Phoenix area. Additional professional experience includes 10 years at TV Guide, Inc. where she rose through senior management positions to become corporate marketing manager. In addition to directing TV Guide's marketing campaigns, Mrs. Hood also spearheaded numerous public affairs projects, earning her the coveted Golden Beacon award.
Mrs. Hood previously held marketing management positions at Chordiant Software and Aspect Communications in Silicon Valley, as well as Sage Software in Scottsdale, AZ.
Mrs. Hood graduated with a BA in Business from the University of Oklahoma in Norman, OK.
Mr. Minniti is responsible for Sunshine Mediaıs publisher recruiting, training and retention efforts. His primary role is to build the Sunshine Media publisher network throughout the United States and Canada. In addition, he manages the state-of-the-art publisher training program that will further the goal of building valuable business opportunities for all Sunshine Media publishers.
Mr. Minniti brings to Sunshine Media over 10 years of recruiting and publisher development experience in the local market publishing sector, having spent that time as a Recruiting Executive at Broker/Agent magazine based in Phoenix, Arizona, a division of Sundance Press in Tucson, Arizona. Mr. Minniti launched the very first magazine as the Phoenix Edition publisher in 1994 then served as the National Director of Sales and Marketing for Broker/Agent magazine and he was the Executive Publisher of Hospitality Executive magazine. As a result, he has been both a successful local market publisher and new publisher recruiting executive. At Broker/Agent, he grew the publisher organization from 15 publishers to over 80 publishers, with revenue rising from just over $1 million to over $10 million.
Prior to Broker/Agent, Mr. Minniti was a Realtor for Pinnacle Peak Realty and Dan Schwartz Realty specializing in land and residential properties. He currently holds his license as a real estate executive and is a Realtor member. Before real estate, Mr. Minniti formed a partnership, Increase Inc., where he provided in-house custom sales training programs to a variety of vertical companies across the United States.
Prior to Increase, Inc., he was the Seminar Manager with the world-famous Tom Hopkins sales training organization where he managed both public attended seminars and private custom sales seminars for Fortune 500 companies. Previous to Tom Hopkins, he worked for the United States Senate as a constituent legislative assistant to U.S. Senator Dennis DeConcini of Arizona.
Mr. Minniti earned his degree in Political Science from Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ.
Howard LaGraffe will have management responsibility for publisher development of the Builder/Architect and Real Estate Executive portfolio of over 80 magazines throughout the country. Mr. LaGraffe will be responsible for enhancing magazine performance with a focus on increasing publisher revenue, developing customized training programs and increasing communications with the companyıs network of independent publishers. He will also coordinate national multi-market advertising programs as the company builds out its local market footprint in the residential construction and real estate market sectors.
Mr. LaGraffe brings a wealth of business-to-business advertising sales experience to Sunshine Media. He has served in a variety of positions during his 13-year association with Sunshine Media. Most recently, Mr. LaGraffe was Publisher of Builder/Architect of Greater Phoenix where he spent the last five years providing advertising solutions to businesses targeting local residential builders, architects and developers.
Prior to his role as Publisher in Phoenix, Mr. LaGraffe was the Southwest Zone Manager for Sunshine Media where he spent five years recruiting, training and managing a number of regional publishers in the companyıs publisher network. Immediately prior to his Zone Manager assignment, he was Publisher of Builder/Architect of Central New York and Syracuse, New York. Additionally, for the past three years Mr. LaGraffe has served on the Sunshine Media Publisher Leadership Council.
Mr. La Graffe attended the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he majored in English.
Eric Hibbs is responsible for the strategic information technology initiatives within the company. His primary role is to manage common systems, infrastructure and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) initiatives that align with our business objectives.
Mr. Hibbs joined Sunshine Media, Inc. in 1994 and has consistently increased positive contributions to the organization. Under Eric's leadership, the IT organization will impact the future technology direction, ensuring the company's current information and technology position in addition to future growth opportunities.
Tyler Hardekopf is responsible for Sunshine Media's creative direction, including design, production and management of strategic marketing/advertising visual communications, magazine design and event-related promotional materials. He applies his experience in design, strategy and interactive development to strengthen and expand Sunshine Media's brand and products.
Before joining the Sunshine Media, Inc. team, Mr. Hardekopf directed the creative services department for the world-renowned Barrett-Jackson Auction Company. He also created visual communication tools and directed interface design solutions for many large-scale Web site initiatives at Integrated Information Systems. Mr. Hardekopf's career began at Everest Publishing as a designer for high-end creative sourcebooks.
Mr. Hardekopf earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
