Bill was born and raised in Parry Sound. He worked as a wholesale merchandise salesman for several years before starting his advertising career with the local Parry Sound radio station in 1976. In 1982 Bill switched to newspaper advertising sales with the Parry Sound Beacon.
He and his family moved to Huntsville in 1986 to help start the Muskoka Advance. He went on to hold a number of managerial positions with the Muskoka Publications Group.
Bill is very pleased to be part of Metroland Printing, Publishing and Distribution as the General Manager of the Huntsville Forester.

Paula began her career in the newspaper industry on Manitoulin Island in the early 1980s then continued on to North Bay. In the fall of 1989 Paula and her husband Philip decided to make Huntsville home.
As the production manager of The Huntsville Forester and mother of twin boys, she enjoys the excitement of the daily tasks and working with such a great team.
She is very pleased to be a part of ‘The Forester Family’.

Bruce Hickey has been writing and taking photographs for community newspapers since 1991. In the spring of 2003 he took the job as managing editor of the Huntsville Forester.
Bruce grew up in the Ottawa Valley community of Renfrew, where he cut his teeth as a reporter at the local newspaper. He came to Huntsville in 1995 after working in northern Ontario and has covered a wide range of beats, including education, sports, politics, court and crime, and hospital issues.
Along with continuing to write for the paper, Bruce oversees the editorial department’s contribution to the Forester and its sister papers each week.

Brenda started with the Huntsville Forester in 1993 to cover a maternity leave. As they say – the rest is history...

Doug has an extensive background in advertising with over 20 years in electronic media. In 1999, he, his wife, and their two daughters purchased Pickerel Lake Cottages and moved from Huntsville to Burk’s Falls.
He has been with the Almaguin Forester since its inception in May 2005. 'We have come a long way in the past two years especially with the addition of the Almaguin News. I believe the future looks great for both the papers and the Almaguin area.'

Wayne was born in Kincardine, Ontario and started his newspaper career as a Linotype operator (typesetting the paper in hot lead) with the Kincardine News. He then moved to Gravenhurst with his family working with the Muskoka News. One year later he moved with his family to Bracebridge where he was employed at the Herald Gazette. Along with two business partners, Wayne established a web printing plant called Muskoka Web printing local weekly newspapers and employing over 60 people. Returning to the newspaper side he became operations manager of Muskoka Publications Group.
In 1994, Wayne was responsible for setting up the distribution centre for the District Weekender and in 2005 also set up the Almaguin Forester distribution centre. Today, Wayne is the Distribution Manager for Metroland North Media, Muskoka/Almaguin Division.
Wayne enjoys playing and watching all sports and especially watching his grandchildren participate.

Twila Armstrong is a hometown girl. She lives in the beautiful hamlet community of Burk’s Falls, where she and her husband have raised three children, two sons and one daughter.
Twila enjoys spending quality time with her family and friends, enjoys the tranquility of the great outdoors and is passionate when it comes to gardening and home decorating.
Twila started her advertising sales career with the Almaguin News in 1992, with 15 years of experience in the newspaper business and a wealth of knowledge on the Almaguin area. Twila approaches customers with a professional attitude and is dedicated to her clients advertising needs. “I look forward to providing customers with new and innovative technology in the world of print and internet advertising.”

Jamie was raised in Sundridge and is a graduate of Almaguin Highlands Secondary School. With a background in retail sales and marketing, she has been with the Almaguin News since early 2006 as an advertising representative. Jamie covers Magnetawan, Commanda, Loring, Port Loring, Restoule and surrounding areas. Jamie also puts together all the sponsor pages for the News advertising local events.

Jennifer was born in Burk’s Falls and raised in Sundridge. After graduating from Almaguin Highlands Secondary School, she began a career in the retail business and worked part-time doing the accounting for her family’s business. After a short time off due to her parent’s illness she started a new career at the Almaguin News as an Advertising Sales Representative.
Jennifer has been a Sales Representative for 4 years now and enjoys her job selling for the Almaguin News and Almaguin Forester.
In her spare time she enjoys boating, camping, horseback riding and spending time with her family.

Maire Carew moved to the Huntsville area in 2000 to enjoy the quieter life after close to 25 years as an advertising representative with The Toronto Star. She is a graduate of Business and Marketing from Ryerson. When she ‘retired’ from The Star she was working as a National Account Representative.
The quiet life was a little too quiet, so a year after moving north she opened That Little Place by the Lights in downtown Huntsville. She operated the café for about 5 years and then, once again, tried to retire.
She is now representing Metroland Northmedia in the North Bay area. She and her husband live off-the-grid on a remote farm in the Parry Sound area and love the solitude. “I’ve discovered I’m too much of a people person to spend all my time on the farm. It’ll be a while before I try to retire again.”

Charlene was raised in Dwight. She obtained a college degree in legal office administration and spent the last 10 years working in Burlington as a debt collector.
Charlene recently returned to Muskoka to be closer to family and friends. She joined Metroland in February of 2007 in the accounting department and assumed the role of accounts payable for the Muskoka offices. She works between Bracebridge and Huntsville offices each day.
Charlene’s hobbies include: being outdoors, spending time with family and friends, walks with her two bulldogs and working out. She is looking forward to starting and raising a family in cottage country.

Debbie started with the Huntsville Forester as an Accounting Clerk in April of 2006.
Debbie is married with 3 children, and is a self-proclaimed 'hockey mom' – she is involved with the AMHA (Almaguin Minor Hockey Association) executive, and is a trainer and manager. In her spare time, Debbie enjoys camping, reading, drawing and writing.

Andy grew up in Elmira, Ontario, just north of Waterloo. He started in the newspaper business while still in high school, taking a job as a part-time paginator with the Elmira Independent in 1988. On graduating, he became a full-time member of the production department, working in both electronic ad design and manual paste-up. Over the years, he also filled in as darkroom technician, delivery driver, cartoonist and occasional handyman. Early in 1998, after demonstrating an aptitude for writing, Andy was offered a job in the newsroom. In 2005, he was promoted to editor, serving in that position for eight months before moving with his family to Almaguin. He found his way here shortly after.

Laurel J. Campbell has over 20 years experience as a journalist and communications specialist. She started working as a freelance writer for the Lindsay Daily Post in the early 1980s specializing in agricultural journalism, joining the Post staff full time in 1986 after her sons were in school.
While at the Post, Laurel honed her newspaper skills by working in advertising, features, special publications, layout and editorial and in 1988 became the editor of the Post’s weekly community paper The PostVISION.
In 1990 she joined the staff of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture (OFA), Ontario’s largest general farm organization, where she established a new corporate communications strategy to increase the profile of agriculture both provincially and federally as well as working with 49 county federations to establish their own media relations programs and acting as assistant to the OFA president and the organizations 100 member board of directors.
After leaving the OFA in 1995 she was contracted by a number of provincial organizations to assist in special communications projects including the launch of the federally funded Ontario Agricultural Adaptation Council, the first adaptation council of its kind to be formed in Canada.
Raised on a farm in Lindsay, Laurel’s passion has always been for community based journalism and plain language communication. She moved to Powassan in 1996 to help revitalize the century old Windsor Hotel where she turned her talents to catering and event organizing before joining the staff of the Almaguin News as a reporter in 2003.
“When I was younger, my mother used to accuse me of striking up conversations on the street with total strangers,” Laurel says. “I guess that’s why I’m a journalist. I love meeting new people and being in new situations because there’s always something to learn and a story to tell.”

Keely was born and raised in Trout Creek, where she enjoyed small-town northern life for 19 years.
It was during high school in North Bay that Keely began to think about applying her lifelong love for writing to a career in journalism.
She graduated with a bachelor of journalism from Carleton University in spring 2006. Keely is trained in print, radio and television journalism, but her love lays in the printed word.
She loves the art of news story-telling, and says there’s no better subject matter than the faces and places she grew up around.
Since she joined the Almaguin team in July 2006, Keely can usually be spotted out and about with camera, notebook and pen in hand, doing just that.

Rob Learn has worked for the Almaguin News since September of 2001 cutting his teeth on coverage of the attacks of September 11. Since then he has gone on to cover everything from municipal politics, court and police beats, school board policies, provincial politics and feature stories that reflect the fabric of the communities that make up the vast Almaguin region.
Born and raised in Restoule, Rob attended a two-room school that cemented in his mind what makes rural living a wonderfully rewarding experience that is consistently under-appreciated.
He did leave though for the big city of Ottawa after graduating from Almaguin Highlands Secondary School. There he studied print journalism at Algonquin College learning all aspects of getting the news on the street in an accurate and engaging manner.
In 2001, after a year of travel, Rob and his wife moved back to the Almaguin area where they are raising their children.
Rob’s easy to spot in a crowd in his weathered felt hat. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself.

Jennifer Cooper's 10-year career in television introduced her to the world of marketing and advertising where she discovered a true calling and passion for the field. Jennifer began at the Huntsville Forester as an Advertising Representative and has most recently moved into the Internet department as the Regional Commercial Web Manager. In her new role, Jennifer looks forward to servicing clients from the entire regions with their online needs.

Jason became the Web facilitator of Metroland North Media’s Muskoka Region in August of 2007. Armed with a diploma in Multi-media Design from Durham College and endless creativity, Jason is ready for all the challenges that await him. Jason joins us from North Bay, where most recently he was a web developer, building and designing an online business directory for that region. Predating his stint in North Bay, Jason lived and grew up in Bracebridge, where he enjoyed participating in several sports and activities. Among his favourites are golf and paintball, which he tries to do whenever possible. Jason also enjoys creating original artworks via more traditional mediums, such as watercolours and detailed pencil sketches, as well as creating other digital media pieces in his spare time. Jason is responsible for the design and content management of Metroland-owned websites in both the Muskoka and Almaguin regions.

Sandy has lived in the Almaguin Highlands for the past 31 years. She worked for the Almaguin News from June, 1979 until August of 1988 when she moved to Toronto. She still had her connection to the Almaguin area with a cottage on Lake Cecebe which she came to every weekend, winter included. She finally had had enough of the traveling back and forth and decided, in late May of 1994, to move to the ‘cottage’ permanently, which has now been renovated to a small but comfortable home.
Sandy started back to work for the Almaguin News the day after she moved back. It was supposed to be a ‘part-time’ position which never materialized. She has been working full-time ever since. She enjoys her work, but looks foward to the time when she can spend more time puttering in her yard and more time boating, fishing and travelling.

Leah came to the Forester in early 2005, and since then, has proofread all the ads for the Huntsville Forester, Almaguin Forester, Weekender, Advance, and all supplements that go with these publications.
Leah fell into printing/typesetting over 20 years ago. She had her own printing/typesetting business (with a partner) on the Danforth in Toronto for 5 years. She freelanced for another 7 years. Through this business, a small community newspaper was put out called 'Around the Town'.
After, Leah went back to school and received an Information Systems certificate, and worked in the CRM industry for 7 years in training/supervisory postions.
One weekend, Leah took a drive north, and decided that it felt like home. Soon thereafter, Leah decided to buy a home while still commuting – then decided to go back to her first love of printing/typesetting and all that it entails with the Forester.

Tracy was bit by the publishing bug early in life, leading her to stints at The Globe and Mail, Razor Magazine and Brunico Communications. She has been working behind the scenes with the Forester Family since last summer.
It's hard to describe exactly what Tracy does at the Forester, but she enjoys coming to work every day and loves the view of the lakes on her commute. Tracy is excited to be involved in the Forester's new digital plans. She spends much of her time researching and putting together special supplements for the Huntsville Forester and handles copy editing and production duties for the Almaguin papers.
Tracy made the move from Toronto's west end to Dwight just over a year ago, looking for a place to write 'the great Canadian novel.' It's still a work in progress, but then so is she.
She misses her family in Arizona, Buffalo and Toronto, but Arizona's a nice place to visit when the Huntsville winter hits... cacti and jackalopes, anyone?

A true native of the Burk’s Falls area, Karen brings with her 10 years of experience in the newspaper business.
Karen resided and worked in Huntsville for 14 years, but the Almaguin Highlands seemed to draw her back.
After a 3 year stint at Nipissing University, Karen decided to get involved in the local newspaper business again (she had worked at the Huntsville Forester before university). Karen worked at the Almaguin News and for the Huntsville Forester helping to launch the Almaguin Forester in 2005. Karen agrees, “It is great working in a multi-media facility.” Karen enjoys working with the public and is dedicated to helping her customers.
Karen looks forward to serving Almaguin customers, whether long-time residents, newcomers or vacationers. "It is great to be able to share Almaguin - this beautiful area - with so many."