Who is Peter Winter, anyway?

Peter M. Winter is a writer, digital communicator, occasional consultant and public speaker who lives on Georgetown Island in Maine and Barcelona, Spain – when he’s not down in his native New Zealand, that is.

Peter is a digital media pioneer – he has worked in the field of digital media since 1976, when he joined the BBC Television team in London, England that built the CEEFAX teletext service, the first-ever digital news product for the consumer market. That lucky break kicked off a 45-year media career spent at the intersection of traditional and new media, a multi-disciplinary career in which he worked first as a journalist and editor, then a business development specialist, a marketing and sales executive, a chief executive and ultimately, a senior member of the executive team of one of largest media companies in the world.

With that unusual experience comes a deep, unconventional understanding of leadership and management – and a unique perspective on the fast-changing media landscape.

After moving to the United States in 1981, he built and eventually sold his own entrepreneurial venture, Digital Applications International Ltd. DAI specialized in the development of new electronic products and services targeting the consumer market. Clients included IBM’s personal computer division, media companies such as News Corporation, Gannett Company and Tribune Company, and also Citibank N.A., for whom the company developed the first home banking service in the United States. Following a sabbatical he joined the Newspaper Association of America as Senior Vice-President, Market Development, where he advised newspapers for over six years on how to respond to emerging online competition. In 1997 he was appointed founding chief executive officer of New Century Network, the first-ever news aggregator, owned by nine of the largest newspaper companies in the United States. He retired in 2004 as a divisional president of Cox Enterprises, the media conglomerate based in Atlanta, where he led the development and execution of the corporation’s Internet strategy. Cox is the founder and sole owner of autotrader.com, the first and the largest digital automotive classified marketplace in the world.

During the early years of Internet expansion Peter served on the boards of several ground-breaking companies, including excite@home, mp3.com, i-village and talkcity.

Peter is widely-known throughout the media industry. With four partners he continues to consult to established companies confronting structural marketplace change and digital competition. pwinter&company also advises start-up companies, helping them incorporate operating process without sacrificing speed or founding purpose, as well as assisting in raising early-round capital investment. You can find out more by visiting pwinterco.com. He also writes about management at LinkedIn, but don’t go over there expecting a traditional point of view. Here’s a sample post: How to put a team together And here’s a link to his LinkedIn profile page: LinkedIn page and profile

It’s one thing to climb the mountain. It’s another thing to live up there

That’s his mountain up there at the top of the page. Every New Zealander has one of them, based on where they were born. His mountain is called Taranaki. It is the symbol of his company and its objective of helping clients put in place a culture of continuous regeneration. It also inspired the company slogan:  “It’s one thing to climb the mountain. It’s another thing to live up there.”

Peter holds five technology patents. With his partners in pwinter&company he is an active angel investor, with a particular focus on digital media, and he is an award-winning speaker on business culture and digital media. He speaks frequently on the leadership and management shortcomings that prevented the digital regeneration of newspapers. You can find his current presentation here: What really happened to newspapers?

His new book, “The Cannibal in the Room – inside the fight for the future of the news,” is now in pre-publication edit: The Cannibal in the Room It tells the inside story of the battle to save newspapers from themselves when the Internet came to town.

Peter is a frequent contributor to Points East magazine in New England, North & South magazine in his native New Zealand and other publications. He is also working on a new collection of short stories loosely based on the people and experiences that have shaped his life. Called “A Life of Fiction,” you can get a taste of them here: Peter Winter’s Life of Fiction

You can follow Peter at facebook.com/pwinterco and at Twitter: twitter.com/Winter2M2C

For more information about the consulting services of pwinter&company or Peter’s presentation schedule, email us here: info@pwinter.com

Peter is married with two adult children. When not writing or consulting he likes to sail, listen to music, and work on slowing down the fastest backswing in golf.  Most of all, he likes to enjoy the company of his many friends around the world, preferably over a bottle of good Spanish wine.