Gil Brechtel, President and CEO

After graduating from the University of New Orleans with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing, Gil began his career in the periodicals distribution industry with Reader's Digest in 1971. In 1974, he joined Louisiana News Company, the magazine and book distributor located in New Orleans. From 1974 through 1995, Gil managed several different magazine and book distribution companies in Louisiana and Florida. In October, 1995, he joined the Jim Pattison News Group after that company purchased Newsouth Distributors of Jacksonville, Florida, where Brechtel held the position of President. In 1996, he was named President of The News Group Southeast, and held that position until 1999 when Brechtel became President of The News Group, L.P. In that role, he coordinated and managed supplier relations, marketing and information technology initiatives for the Jim Pattison News Group and their partners in The News Group, LP. He left that position at the end of 2002, and joined Time Warner as an exclusive consultant. He was named President of International Periodical Distributors Association in June of 2005. He became President and CEO of the Magazine Information Network in March, 2006.

Ray Shaw, Senior Vice President - Business Services

After completing his university education, Ray spent 11 years in the retail grocery business, nine of which were with the largest C-store chain in Cincinnati, OH, and two of which were with Ashland Oil, SuperAmerica.

He has 25 years of experience in the magazine business. He spent 22 years with Distribution Services, Inc., where as VP of Client Services he was responsible for client contracts totaling more than $600 million and managed $15 million in client revenue. As their Division VP, he was responsible for one-third of North America and was accountable for all wholesale distribution, retail marketing and store merchandising.

As VP of Wholesale Operations, he managed all field wholesale operations for all of North America and Canada for 7 of the world's largest magazine publishers. Most recently, he served as DSI's VP of Information Management, where he assisted in the design and architecture of all data management tools from the ground up, including web-based interactive sales and data tools.

Joshua Gary, Vice President - Systems and Operations

Joshua Gary received his undergraduate degree in International Relations from the University of Florida in 2000 and his MBA in 2002 from the University of Florida with concentration in Decision and Information Sciences. 

Prior to joining MagNet in 2008, Joshua was Director of Business Intelligence at Lydian Trust Company where he developed and implemented an enterprise-wide data warehouse for delivery of reporting and analytical solutions.  From 2003 to 2006 Joshua was Director of Information Management, Circulation and Financial Systems at American Media Inc.  These positions required the creation and implementation of projects focusing on the gathering of user requirements to effectively translate business needs into final reporting and data management. 

In addition to continuing his pursuit of cutting-edge information technology, Joshua was Adjust Professor at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale from 2005-2007 teaching database technology and technology operations courses as directed by school management.