Rick Bogacz

Rick Bogacz

Editor-in-Chief at MSN Canada

Toronto, Canada Area

Current
Past
  • Senior Manager Daily Programming at AOL Canada
  • Senior Editor of News at AOL Canada
  • Freelance writer/photographer at St. Catharines Standard, Hamilton Spectator, Addiction Research Foundation
  • Reporter/Editor at St. Catharines Standard
  • Reporter at Brandon Sun
Education
  • Humber College
  • Ryerson University
Connections
327 connections
Industry
Online Media
Websites

Rick Bogacz’s Summary

Experienced communications professional with a versatile background in people management, online content, reporting copy editing and photography. A respected leader who was instrumental in engineering a compelling online editorial experience for AOL Canada.

A solid reputation for mentoring and coaching staff. Passionate about empowering them to make decisions independently. Strong organizational skills, combined with a high level of creative energy.

Capable of juggling multiple assignments and adhering to strict deadlines. Dynamic team player with an extremely positive attitude and pragmatic approach to problem solving.

Rick Bogacz’s Specialties:

Online editorial management
Newspaper editing and reporting
Editorial photography
Staff supervision


Rick Bogacz’s Experience

  • Editor-in-Chief

    Microsoft Canada

    (Online Media industry)

    2008Present (1 year )

  • Editor-in-Chief

    Canoe.ca

    (Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Online Media industry)

    May 2006June 2008 (2 years 2 months)

    Manage the day-to-day editorial operations at Canoe.ca

  • Copy editor/ writer

    Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

    (Online Media industry)

    November 2005May 2006 (7 months)

    - Critically edits online news and current affairs features written by others and/or items produced by others, including headlines, text articles, photo captions and interactive features covering a broad range of topics, such as world affairs, Canada, sports, arts, business, health and science.

    - Ensures all text conforms to standard English grammar and CBC.ca style, including proper spellings and capitalization.

    - Highlights any potential legal issues for senior online staff and consults with legal staff when necessary.

  • Director of Content and Programming

    AOL Canada

    (Public Company; Online Media industry)

    March 2003May 2005 (2 years 3 months)

    - Responsible for daily editorial integrity of the AOL service
    - Managed staff of 26 editors, content strategists and technical developers
    - Set annual goals and programming strategies for the department
    - Accountable for a $3 million departmental budget
    -- Supported Media Sales revenue targets through inventory generation
    - Surpassed impression target in 2004 by 18%
    - Sponsored transition to HTML from AOL’s proprietary publishing system allowing for a more efficient cross-publishing platform for all AOL Canada brands.
    - Represented Content and Programming department on corporate leadership team

  • Senior Manager Daily Programming

    AOL Canada

    (Public Company; Online Media industry)

    January 2001March 2003 (2 years 3 months)

    - Hired and trained a team of 14 editors responsible for the development of informative, entertaining and interactive content on the AOL Canada service
    - In conjunction with the company’s sales strategy team, delivered feature packages that resulted in a 400% increase in impressions across the service in 2002
    - Set key usage and time-online metrics for each channel editor and monitored progress throughout the year
    - Analyzed daily usage statistics to ensure editorial content achieves maximum click-through and impression goals
    - Chaired daily editorial meetings and approve daily content lineup AOL’s Welcome Screen.
    - Oversaw development of editorial calendar for long-term planning purposes
    - Successfully coached and mentored a young group of employees. Three were promoted to senior editorial positions

  • Senior Editor of News

    AOL Canada

    (Public Company; Online Media industry)

    April 1997January 2001 (3 years 10 months)

    - Hired, trained and supervised team of four news editors
    - Successfully increased monthly usage on the news channel from 160,000 pageviews in 1998 to about two million in 2001
    - Expanded programming schedule to include evenings and weekends
    - Co-ordinated, built and launched redesign of AOL Canada news channel in 2000
    - Consistently introduced new features aimed at increasing retention and member experience (i.e. regular polls, photo galleries, in-depth features)

  • Freelance writer/photographer

    St. Catharines Standard, Hamilton Spectator, Addiction Research Foundation

    (Newspapers industry)

    September 1995April 1997 (1 year 8 months)

    - Photographed sports, spot news, lifestyle features, portraits and advertisements for the St. Catharines Standard, Hamilton Spectator, Addiction Research Foundation and various other publications. See www.rickbogaczphotography.com
    - Shot award-winning spot news photograph while on contract at the St. Catharines Standard
    - Demonstrated diversity of skills by filling in as weekend and court reporter at the Standard

  • Reporter/Editor

    St. Catharines Standard

    (Newspapers industry)

    September 1983September 1993 (10 years 1 month)

    - Seven years experience covering labor beat. Two years as education reporter
    - Initiated feature ideas with little supervision
    - Developed and maintained a variety of reliable contacts and sources
    - First to break major story on General Motors foundry closure
    - Award-winning spot news coverage
    - Experience editing on the world desk

  • Reporter

    Brandon Sun

    (Newspapers industry)

    September 1981September 1983 (2 years 1 month)

    - Covered education and general assignment beats


Rick Bogacz’s Education

  • Humber College

    Diploma , Photography , September 1993May 1995

  • Ryerson University

    BA , Journalism , September 1978May 1981


Additional Information

Rick Bogacz’s Websites:

Rick Bogacz’s Interests:

Photography. Work has been exhibited at the Toronto Contact Photography Festival Cycling Tennis

Rick Bogacz’s Groups:

National Press Photographers Association, Canadian Photographers Network, ONA

  •    AOLAlumni
  •    Online News Association
  •    Ryerson University Alumni
  •    Canadian Web 2.0 Jobs
  •    Canadian Interactive Experts
  •    Online reporters and editors
  •    AOL CONNECTIONS
  •    Media & Entertainment Professionals
  •    Ryerson University Journalism Alumni
  •    Canada's Media Professionals
  •    Job Openings, Job Leads and Job Connections!
  •    Media and Entertainment: Networking, Forum and Jobs
  •    AOL Canada - current/former

Rick Bogacz’s Honors:

Western Ontario Newspaper Award (runner-up, spot news reporting)
Niagara College Booth Photography Award (best wide-angle portrait)
Niagara Regional Police Photojournalism Award
Niagara Institute Leadership Program
Mica – Effective Presentations Seminar


Rick Bogacz’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

  • career opportunities
  • consulting offers
  • new ventures
  • job inquiries
  • expertise requests
  • business deals
  • reference requests
  • getting back in touch

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