Managing Director Readership Institute

Mary Nesbitt is managing director of the Readership Institute at the Center. She has worked with the Center since 1998, directing the women in newspaper management project at the Center and working with ASNE, NAA and the McCormick Tribune Foundation on the task force that led to the industry's commitment to the Readership Initiative.

Nesbitt was associate editor of The London (Ont.) Free Press from 1992-1996 and city editor 1988-92. The Free Press, at the time a family-owned daily (110,000 M-F; 140,000 Sat.), was at the forefront of Canadian newspapers in technical and design innovations, community interaction and new content development. During that period, she played a key role in developing and executing a regional and local news coverage strategy; public journalism projects; community outreach; new editorial products; newsroom reorganization into teams; and goals-based performance assessment. She also maintained a teaching role in the graduate school of journalism, University of Western Ontario.

Before entering journalism, Nesbitt taught English language and literature at a school near Chichester, Sussex, England, and English as a Second Language to francophones in the Canadian armed forces.

Nesbitt has a B.A. (Hon.) from the University of Toronto and an M.A. in journalism from the University of Western Ontario.