Robert Hearn is one of the most experienced individuals working with specialist magazines in the UK newsstand.

For the last ten years he has been running M2 – his own newsstand marketing consultancy, which specialises in strategic magazine marketing and newsstand circulation in the UK and overseas.

Prior to that he was a director at Seymour in charge of the imported magazine division for two years, followed by five years as Marketing Director at SM Magazine Distribution. At SM he spearheaded the company’s sales revenue growth from under £6m to over £30m pa and was involved in over 200 new magazine launches.

He has an MBA from Cass Business School and also the Diploma of the Market Research Society.

In 2002 he was awarded the ACE Bronze Award for Circulation Excellence by a Major Magazine for his work with Playstation World. Most of his clients are market leaders in their respective fields, and a number have been nominated for prestigious PPA Annual Awards.

David’s knowledge and experience of how the newstrade supply chain works is without parallel. He has been one of the pioneers in developing the management of the supply chain and the use of technology to improve efficiencies e.g. bar coding, returns processing, e-business and EDI (Electronic Data Interchange).

For the last 16 years he has worked at the highest levels in IT management in publishing and newsstand distribution. His experience encompasses six years as Head of IT at SM Magazine Distribution and latterly seven years at Trinity Mirror plc. He has been closely involved in many of the key initiatives of the PPA, NPA and JIG (Joint Industry Group) on the supply chain and electronic communications and has been the Chairman of the industry’s EDI user group for over 10 years.

He graduated from the MBA course at Imperial College Business School in Management of Technology and is a Member of the Chartered Institute of Management.

David believes that the intelligent application of technology and an in depth understanding of how the newstrade works can help specialist publications get to their readers more effectively and efficiently.