EXECUTIVE BIOS

Katherine Nicholls is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Niche Media. Niche Media Holdings, LLC, is the country's preeminent regional magazine group catering to the high-end luxury market through its distinct publications: Art Basel Miami Beach, Aspen Peak, Boston Common, Capitol File, Gotham, Hamptons, Los Angeles Confidential, Michigan Avenue, Ocean Drive, Philadelphia Style, Vegas, and Wynn. Renowned for reaching and motivating highly affluent consumers, Niche Media publications celebrate the worlds of culture, fashion, fine dining, real estate, philanthropy, and nightlife.

Nicholls joined Niche Media in 2007 as Chief Marketing Officer, became Chief Operating Officer in 2009, and was appointed President in 2010. With more than 20 years of excellence in marketing, sales, and operations for global luxury brands, Nicholls leads the achievement of Niche Media's mission of "connecting, captivating, and celebrating the elevated lifestyles of our communities."

Recently, Nicholls spearheaded a redesign and repositioning of Niche Media's publications to delight readers and to bring a more sophisticated, authoritative voice to their content. Niche Media's magazines reach the most affluent and sophisticated consumers in 10 of the leading luxury markets in America. Within the pages of these glossy magazines, Niche Media covers the lifestyles of influencers who move the needle, with a unique local sensibility that makes them a reflection of "this place in this time." Niche Media's ability to create connections between our partners and affluent, socially dynamic consumers is peerless. This distinct approach has been the foundation of Niche Media since 1992, and Nicholls's efforts have aligned content, marketing, and distribution efforts toward achieving the company's goals.

Prior to joining Niche Media, Nicholls spent almost 20 years in the luxury wine and spirits business, working for such industry leaders as Diageo PLC, Schieffelin & Somerset (LVMH Moët Hennessy and Diageo), and The Charmer Sunbelt Group. Her career began in Canada and focused on the marketing of global luxury brands, in positions of progressively more responsibility. Nicholls is a graduate of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. She is married and lives in New York.

John P. Kushnir, CPA, joined Niche Media as Chief Financial Officer in October 2007. With a core competency in traditional and digital publishing, Kushnir has over twenty years of experience in business management, finance and accounting.

Kushnir came to Niche Media from the Vendome Group, a business-to-business publishing company based in New York City where he served as CFO. Prior to that he held several positions at Primedia starting as Controller for the Business Media Division’s Internet foray, Industryclick. Within one year, he was promoted to CFO of Primedia’s Consumer Media and Magazine Internet Division, where he was instrumental in driving the group to become the highest growth vehicle in the Company. He then took on additional responsibility as CFO of the Licensing Group and ultimately ended up as CFO of the Company’s Consumer Automotive Group, a group anchored by Motortrend and Automobile Magazine. Before that, Kushnir served as Controller for start-up companies in the entertainment and technology sectors over a seven year period. He started his career with the international accounting firm of Deloitte & Touche where he specialized in audits of publishing clients.

John graduated from Rutgers University with an MBA. Today he lives in Colts Neck, New Jersey with his wife Rosemarie and their two daughters Courtney Nicole and Jenna Rose.

Jason Binn started his publishing career as co-founder of Ocean Drive magazine in 1993. He then founded Niche Media Holdings in 1998, building what BusinessWeek calls “a fast growing empire” of upscale glossies that has cornered the regional publishing market with the country’s preeminent local luxury magazines.

In 2006 Niche Media joined the Greenspun Media Group (GMG) to become one of the largest networks of exclusive city-specific and custom publishing companies in the country. In 2007 GMG purchased The Ocean Drive Media Group and merged the operations under Niche Media.

Through the development of a vertically integrated strategic model, Binn has successfully validated the concept of the controlled-circulation publication as a prized commodity in the eyes of consumers and advertisers. His “winning formula” (BusinessWeek) begins with magazines that chronicle and celebrate community leaders and local celebrities. Then, unlike most magazines that rely solely on newsstand sales and subscriptions for their circulation base, Niche Media works with some of the most highly respected data bureaus in the country to ensure that its magazines are delivered straight into the hands of the country’s most sought-after readers--those with the highest disposable income.

Rounding out Binn’s strategic model are over 500 events per year thrown by Niche Media that are chronicled in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Boston Herald, The Hollywood Reporter, Advertising Age, Folio, Mediaweek, Variety, People, OK!, Star, New York Post and U.S. News & World Report, among others, bringing the magazines to life and ultimately creating an intimate connection between the readers, the magazines, and the communities they serve.

In 2007 Binn was selected from over 1,000 nominations to be featured in Crain’s coveted “40 Under 40” list of successful entrepreneurs. In 2006 Binn was the only person within the magazine industry to be inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s “Advertising Hall of Achievement,” an honor bestowed upon outstanding advertising professionals age 40 and under who make a significant impact through leadership, career, and personal achievements.

Binn was also profiled in Forbes magazine’s coveted “Forbes 400” issue in a piece highlighting his ability to capture an audience of the “rich and powerful,” a skill also recognized by Newsweek (May 2005). That same year Binn was awarded Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” award celebrating vision, leadership, and the success of the entrepreneurial spirit for his work in the publishing industry.

Jason Binn graduated from Boston University’s College of Communications in 1989. In 2008 he was one of five honorees chosen among 25,000 College of Communication alumni to receive the college’s Distinguished Alumni Award for Service to Profession for his leadership and cutting edge work in the field of communication presented by Dean Tom Fielder.

He, his wife Haley Lieberman Binn and three children Penny, Celia and Oscar divide their time between their Aspen, Los Angeles, New York and Southampton homes.