Active Interest Media

Active Interest Media ("AIM") was formed in October 2003 by Wind Point Partners and Efrem "Skip" Zimbalist III. AIM is a rapidly growing media company focused on enthusiast magazines and related consumer shows, internet sites and books. AIM publishes American Cowboy, Backpacker, Better Nutrition, Black Belt, Building Systems, Collector’s Guide, Log Home Design, Log Home Living, New Old House, Old-House Journal, Optimum Wellness, Peaks, SNEWS, Southwest Art, Timber Home Living, Vegetarian Times, Whole Foods Market, Yachts International, and Yoga Journal magazines. In conjunction with these magazines, we produce and market over 75 martial arts, videos and books, including several by the legendary Bruce Lee and a dozen three-day log home shows seminars that attract thousands of consumers from around the country.

Show Management, produces major in-water boat shows in Florida, including the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show (FLIBS), the largest boat show in the world. FLIBS, owned by the Marine Industry Association of South Florida, attracts over 100,000 attendees to view and purchase yachts up to 200' in length, many costing well in excess of $25 million. In addition to FLIBS, we produce the Yacht and Brokerage Show in Miami, the Palm Beach Boat Show, the Suncoast Boat Show in Sarasota, and the St. Petersburg Boat Show. In addition to the boats themselves, each show presents all the attendant equipment and accessories necessary to operate and enjoy your boat.

Active Interest Media is actively seeking further acquisitions of leading consumer media properties in niche enthusiast markets.

OFFICERS

Efrem Zimbalist III
President and Chief Executive Officer

Efrem Zimbalist III is Chairman and CEO of Active Interest Media (AIM), a media company formed in 2003 to serve niche enthusiast markets. AIM currently publishes American Cowboy, Backpacker, Better Nutrition, Black Belt, Building Systems, Collector’s Guide, Log Home Design, Log Home Living, New Old House, Old-House Journal, Optimum Wellness, Peaks, SNEWS, Southwest Art, Timber Home Living, Vegetarian Times, Whole Foods Market, Yachts International, and Yoga Journal. AIM also produces consumer events and publishes books and videos and is actively seeking media acquisitions in enthusiasts markets.

Previously, Mr. Zimbalist was Chief Financial Officer of Times Mirror, a Fortune 500 company that published the Los Angeles Times, the Baltimore Sun, New York Newsday, the Hartford Courant, and several smaller newspapers.  Through its Times Mirror Magazines subsidiary, where Mr. Zimbalist also served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, the company was a leader in sports publishing Golf Magazine, Yachting, Salt Water Sportsman, Popular Science, Field & Stream, Transworld Skateboarding, and others).

Prior to joining Times Mirror, Mr. Zimbalist served as chairman and chief executive officer of Correia Art Glass, Inc., a family-owned business.  He also served five years at the management consulting firm of McKinsey and Co. in Los Angeles

Mr. Zimbalist served for two years as an officer in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Corp, including one year in Vietnam, where he was awarded the Bronze Star.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Harvard College and a Master's Degree in Business Administration with honors from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration. Mr. Zimbalist serves or has served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Robert Louis Stevenson School (Pebble Beach, CA), Chairman of the Board of Overseers of the Curtis Institute of Music (Philadelphia PA), as a member of the Carnegie Hall Corporate Fund Board and the Leadership Board of Lincoln Center (New York, NY), the House Ear Institute (Los Angeles), the Colorado Festival of World Theatre (Colorado Springs, CO) and Summit Business Media (New York, NY).

Andrew W. Clurman
Chief Operating Officer and Group Publisher

Andy Clurman joined Active Interest Media as Group Publisher and Chief Operating Officer in October of 2003 when the company was formed by Skip Zimbalist. Clurman is directly responsible for the operational and overall management of AIM's current publications, American Cowboy, Backpacker, Better Nutrition, Black Belt, Building Systems, Collector’s Guide, Log Home Design, Log Home Living, New Old House, Old-House Journal, Optimum Wellness, Peaks, SNEWS, Southwest Art, Timber Home Living, Vegetarian Times, Whole Foods Market, Yachts International, and Yoga Journal magazines. AIM also produces consumer events and publishes books and videos and is actively seeking media acquisitions in enthusiasts markets.

Prior to joining AIM, Clurman served as Senior Vice President of Time4Media, a division of Time Warner/AOL, and President/Publisher of Mountain Sport Media, the world's leading winter sports media company which included SKI, Skiing, Freeze, Skiing Trade News Magazines, Warren Miller Films & Entertainment, and Mountain Sports Press.  He held the dual role as President of TransWorld Publications which included Transworld Skateboarding, Snowboarding, Motocross, Surf, BMX, and Ride Magazines. Under his leadership, these two divisions grew to comprise fifteen consumer and trade magazines, an award-winning film and television production unit, and category leading Internet, book, video/dvd publishing, and event marketing businesses. During Clurman's tenure, Mountain Sports and Transworld flourished launching five new magazines and acquiring four others doubling revenue with profits growing ten-fold.

Before joining Time4 Media, Clurman was at Times Mirror where he and Mr. Zimbalist worked on successful corporate initiatives including the launch of The Outdoor Life Network. Clurman also developed Times Mirror Magazine's first web property and introduced Freeze Magazine for teen skiers. In 1997 he orchestrated SKI and Skiing Magazine's successful relocation from New York City to Boulder Colorado and the formation of Mountain Sports Media. 

Clurman's 20-year career in special interest publishing began at Ziff Davis where he was a sales representative, regional sales manager, marketing director and finally, publisher of SKI and Skiing Magazines. He is a graduate of Rutgers College and holds an MBA from the University of Colorado.

He serves or has served as a board member of the Independant Magazine Council of the Magazine Publisher's of America.

Patricia B. Fox
Sr. Vice President - Circulation, Production and Operations

With more than 20 years of publishing experience, Patricia Fox is responsible for all circulation marketing and magazine production for Active Interest Media. In 2007, she also assumed responsibility as General Manager of the Healthy Living Group, including Yoga Journal, Vegetarian Times, Better Nutrition, and Healthy Living Custom Publishing. Before joining AIM, she was Vice President of Operations for Sabot Publications where she oversaw all circulation and production. She joined AIM at the time of Sabot’s acquisition. Ms. Fox is the former President and CEO of Caribbean Travel and Live, Inc. As a founder of the company, she led Caribbean Travel and Life Magazine in becoming an acknowledged leader in its special-market niche. Ms. Fox also launched Latitudes South, the award-winning in-flight magazine for American Eagle airlines, an affiliate of American Airlines, and TradeWinds, the inflight magazine for ALM, the airline of the Dutch Antilles, which was affiliated with KLM. Prior to joining Sabot in 1999, Ms. Fox was a Senior Consultant with Ladd Associates, a consulting firm specializing in circulation planning and direct marketing. Ms. Fox has an MBA from George Washington University, an MA from Georgetown, and a BA from Manhattanville College.

Brian J. Sellstrom
Sr. Vice President and Chief Financial Officer