Gloria Adams
SVP, audience development, PennWell Publishing
Adams actively shares her extensive circulation expertise both with her co-workers and her peers from other companies.
Gloria Adams’ history of mentoring can be traced back to when she first joined PennWell Publishing 11 years ago. “When I started at, the company didn’t have a circulation department,” she told AD. “I was hired to hire and train an entire circ department. That’s sort of how it all got started.”
Adams began hosting off-site meetings at her home where her employees were able to share their ideas and concerns about their work and careers—the meetings still occur today. “It’s a relaxed atmosphere were we can just sit and talk about what’s going on and what we needed to get done,” Adams says. “It allows us to have free and open discussion on everyone’s part because we’re in a tremendous amount of change right now.”
Throughout her 30-plus year in the circulation industry, Adams has also lent her expertise to various associations and organizations such as BPA, ABC and NTCFI. She’s a seasoned presenter at industry conferences, including the one that this magazine holds each year. In fact, Adams and a group of her b-to-b circulation colleagues—Hearst Business Media’s Barry Green, Access Intelligence’s Sylvia Sierra and Hanley Woods’ Nick Cavnar—brought their entire circulation departments to Chicago during last year’s CM Show and had a full day of sessions (separate from the conference) with their fulfillment vendor.
“Gloria shares knowledge and embodies the gift economy in which she shares what she knows and, in return, colleagues are willing to share, so the community IQ grows,” Sierra says.
One of the most important topics that Adams is currently discussing with her peers is the reluctance some have to the changes in the circ industry. “Now with the Web, e-newsletters, and so on, we’re looking for ways to constantly change and push the envelope as far as what we’re offering,” she says. “The big debate is with the audit bureaus and them confining us to the current statements they use. It just won’t cut it. If advertisers aren’t able to look at every thing we have to offer, they’re missing a huge part. That’s something my staff, and everyone else, is struggling with.”
In the same way that Adams wants the bureaus to be adaptable, she also urges all up-and-coming circulators to be adaptable too. “Be willing to change, experiment and try new things,” she says. “Don’t be afraid to fail.”
VITAL STATS
Adams periodically hosts informal meetings at her home where PennWell employees are free to voice their opinions, concerns and thoughts about their work and careers.
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