IPA's John Anner moves on to next challenge

Canadian magazine publishers and editors have had the benefit of advice from John Anner, the Executive Director of the Independent Press Association (IPA), based in San Francisco.

They will therefore be sorry to hear that Anner is leaving the IPA to work for the East Meets West Foundation, which does community building and development work in Vietnam.

Some Canadian titles like This Magazine, and Fuse and Shambala Sun have found it beneficial to be members of the organization in parallel with their membership in Magazines Canada. IPA provides (and will continue to provide) services such as newsstand distribution and advice in much the same way as Magazines Canada. It has also, under Anner's direction, developed a low-interest loan system for independent publishers and has made software available inexpensively to help manage fulfillment and other aspects of the business.

Anner, 42, is a former Peace Corps worker founded IPA in 1996 with no paid staff and is leaving it with 400 magazines, 27 staff, revenues of $8 million and an annual budget of $2.5 million. Its membership includes such venerable titles as Harper's and The Nation but also such niche titles as the Asian pop-culture magazine Giant Robot and Bark, a monthly that Anner called "a New Yorker for Dogs".