Guest Speaker: Leigh Gate - Classification Talk
Posted by Markus Baumann
Leigh spoke to the Club about his family, his career and the newspaper business.
Leigh was born in Brampton in 1973. He has a brother and sister and somewhat of a "nuclear family" with a number of step brothers and sisters. He moved north when he enrolled in Tourism Management at Georgian College ten years ago. This led to summer work at Severn Lodge, first as "Outdoor Boy" and then on to Recreation Director.
After graduating college, Leigh moved to London. He was 24 years old when he got his first paper route, but quickly moved on to Distribution Rep in 1997. An opportunity for a senior management position with the Barrie Advance presented itself in 1999 and Leigh was the Circulation Manager until 2002. The parent company of the Barrie Advance is Metroland, which owns about 70 newspapers.
Now, Leigh has come to Midland as General Manager of the Midland Mirror. Their mission is to be the preeminent local media organization. Leigh still lives in Barrie with his wife Lynn and son Ethan.