The Globe and Mail has not had a new CEO in nearly 25 years, and will have a new one next month.
In 2002, he joined the Globe as director of advertising and has been there ever since. He became vice-president of advertising sales in 2006 and became the Globe's chief revenue officer in the same year.
During his time with the national news organization, traditional daily newspapers like the Globe were forced to evolve and transform their business when advertisers started moving to digital platforms like Facebook, and the bottom fell out of the once lucrative newspaper advertising market.
The Globe and Mail is still one of the most respected media outlets in Canada and is still the preferred option when brands are looking to run prestige print campaigns.
Globe chairman David Thompson said that Andrew's leadership has been instrumental in driving the Globe's successful transformation from a print-centered organization to a digitally driven model.
According to a report by the World Association of News Publishers, the Globe has more than 200,000 digital only subscribers. Revenue was expected to increase by $30 million in the next five years.
Most of the Globe's revenue came from display and classified advertising when it was first published 25 years ago. He said at the Asian Media Leaders eSummit last year that the company expected nearly two-thirds of its revenue to come from a combination of subscribers, universities and businesses.
Every issue of Report on Business magazine has over 2 million readers.
Prior to joining the Globe, Saunders was a well-known and respected figure in Canadian marketing and advertising. He serves on the boards of several organizations.
A group of well-known figures from across the media, marketing and advertising spectrum weighed in on a post about his promotion.
He will be working with Crawley before he takes his new role. He said he was excited to lead the Globe in the future. The company has a strong foundation in the Canadian media industry and has an opportunity to grow and innovate.
New technologies and platforms will allow us to reach a wider audience and deliver our top-class content in new ways.
In an interview with the Globe, Crawley said that he was a natural leader who lived and breathed the values of the Globe and Mail.
He said that he believes that a highly engaged team is essential to the success of any organization. He keeps an eye on the Globe's long-term growth and success by building relationships with people from all departments.
After working in Europe, Asia and New Zealand, Crawley joined the Globe. He came up through the journalism side of the business and worked for two of the most high-profile and polarizing figures in media: Murdoch and Black.
He was the editor of The South China Morning Post in Hong Kong from 1988 to 1993 and the managing director of The Times Supplement in London from 1993 to 1994. He was editor of The Journal and editor of The Daily Telegraph in the north.
He was a fixture at the Advertising Club of Toronto's annual Newspaper Day, during which he seemed to delight in avoiding the niceties of panel discussions, tossing grenades and constantly tweaking his competitors. The National Post, Conrad Black's upstart daily that was launched in 1997, was often the target of his barbs.
He has taken aim at the fakery of the digital advertising industry that has taken away so much advertising revenue from newspapers.
In an interview with the Globe, Thomson praised Crawley's ability to steer the company through intense competition and establish it as a "leading force" in new media and online products.
This photo was taken by The Globe and Mail.
