From tennis to newsprint
Mark Lever, owner of the Saltwire Network of newspapers, began career as a tennis pro
A man who once considered tennis as a professional career now owns the largest privatelyowned newspaper chain in the country.
Mark Lever set out on a mission to breathe new life into the newspaper industry in Atlantic Canada when he launched the Saltwire Network this past April.
That network owns papers such as The Guardian, Journal Pioneer and Halifax Chronicle Herald.
The Saltwire Network hosted a reception in Charlottetown on Thursday night to launch the Open Up Project, designed to engage readers over the next 12 to 24 months. He wants to know what readers want to see in their newspapers.
“I understand consumer and reader preferences and recognize how important all these brands are to the community they’re in. I know how important The Guardian and the Journal Pioneer are to the people of Prince Edward Island.’’ Mark Lever
The project will include things like small group audience interviews, exploring how people interact with content, what information and insights they need in order to be an informed citizen and why being informed matters to them.
Owning the company is a far cry from his first job teaching tennis at the Glace Bay Tennis Club in Cape Breton, N.S.
“It became a career for a while,’’ the Cape Breton native said. “I ended up being a teaching pro for a while.’’
In between his career as a tennis pro and getting into the newspaper industry, Lever worked in the corporate finance world of media.
Lever feels he brings an outsiders view to the newspaper industry, one he likes to calls a consumer’s view.
“(I’m a) consumer of media rather than someone who has grown up in the business. I understand consumer and reader preferences and recognize how important all these brands are to the community they’re in. I know how important The Guardian and the Journal Pioneer are to the people of Prince Edward Island.’’
He’s humble about his role with the Saltwire Network.
“I’m just an entrepreneur who was very lucky that my wife’s family and my wife entrusted me to try and take their business to the next stage of its evolution and its future. I’m real excited as an entrepreneur and as a business person who cares about Atlantic Canada to have this opportunity to be associated with these brands that go back a long time, that mean a lot to communities.’’