A History of Editorial Excellence 2002 Finalist Energy Battle Series 2000 Finalist 1999 Chain Construction Forecast ABP Jesse H. Neal Award The American Business Press Jesse H. Neal Editorial Achievement Awards 1998 Certificate of Merit 1998-1999 Regional "Gold" Donatos Pizza Kitchen/Unit Design

Our Staff

Business & Sales

ROBIN ASHTON
Founding partner Robin Ashton, president and publisher, runs the business side and ultimately is responsible for the whole operation here. A true industry veteran in spite of is boyish appearance, he's covered foodservice since 1978, and E&S exclusively since 1982, as an editor and publisher at several magazines. Want to know where the industry's been? He's tracked it. Want to know where it's going? Just ask.

RICH CHRAMPANIS
As v.p. and national sales manager, Rich Chrampanis runs our sales operation and handles the Eastern and Southern regions. One of our founding partners, he's an ad-sales veteran with more than 30 years of experience, including 20 with E&S clients at multiple magazines. Rich is notorious for his wit and humor, and admits to formerly taking, Cleo, his dog to the drive-through for cheeseburgers (the vet's stopped the practice.)

PAT ELLIOTT
Our regional sales manager for the Midwest and far West, Pat Elliott started selling ads to foodservice clients in 1985 and has served E&S clients ever since at several magazines (You notice a pattern here? Experience.) Fortunately for us, she left a chef-oriented food magazine in '97 to join FER. The only thing she misses about food publishing: "I no longer get invited to all the restaurant openings here in Chicago!"

CHRISTINE PALMER
Christine Palmer, our first hire in 1996, has been an integral part of this company since the beginning. She crosses all the functions of business, sales and editorial: ad and edit production, Web and directory editor, meeting coordinator, erstwhile office manager, nobody's assistant. With a systematic approach that comes from being a Purdue-trained engineer, she's helped create the Buyers Guide, Services Guide, Web site, and most recently the FER Fortnightly newsletter. She also runs MUFES and our other meetings, her favorite task. When we need something done, she finds a way to get it done and often does it herself.

Content & Editorial

BRIAN WARD
Brian Ward, co-founder and chief editor/associate publisher, has brought an enthusiasm for machinery to E&S publishing for nearly 20 years. That "gearhead" interest in how things work shows in FER's informal, candid style that "talks" to readers the way they talk with each other. He serves on the NAFEM Technical Liaison Committee as well as the advisory board of the Food Service Technology Center in San Ramon, Calif.

JENNIFER HICKS
Co-founder Jennifer Hicks, executive editor, heads up day-to-day editorial operations. She's covered the E&S business since 1992, so she knows her way around a fryer or chafer spec sheet, as well as keeping us all on time and on track. She holds of an M.S. degree in magazine publishing from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism and also sits on the board of the American Society of Business Press Editors. Weekends find her getting sawed in half in a magic act.

Custom Publishing

BETH LORENZINI
Beth Lorenzini already had nine years under her belt covering E&S and noncommercial foodservice, and another three running custom publishing for Reed Elsevier’s food and lodging titles, when she came aboard six years ago to launch and manage our Custom Publishing Division. Over the years, she’s served a broad range of clients, producing a variety of products from custom inserts and catalogs to educational materials and association magazines.

Our Suppliers

Gill Ashton Publishing is a small company with world-class standards. Those supporting our print, electronic, circulation and other activities include the following:

Print and Prepress: RR Donnelley. One of the world's largest and most sophisticated magazine printers, RRD offers us and our clients world-class capabilities not only in printing and electronic prepress, but also affords us all significant savings in co-mailing and logistic postage efficiencies worldwide.

Web Site and E-Newsletter Development and Hosting: GCN Publishing is the premier independent developer and host of b-to-b electronic products, including Web sites, buyers' guides and e-mail newsletters. They redesigned our Web site this year and helped us create FER Fortnightly last year. Supplier partners and friends since the launch of our Web site in 2000, GCN has over 80 publishing clients including International Medical News Group, Keller Publishing, CMP, Advanstar as well as BPA Worldwide.

Circulation Fulfillment: Hallmark Data Systems. Small and large publishers alike rely on Hallmark to maintain and execute our magazine and electronic product circulation files in such a way that they are transparent for auditing and flexible for client and publisher needs. Hallmark serves us as well as clients such as IDG, CMP, Reed and others.

Our Associations & Affiliations

We are also members of BPA Worldwide and American Business Media.

On the industry side, we are associate or affiliate members of the following associations; (if you don't know the group, ask): NAFEM, MAFSI, ACFSA, ASHFSA, HFM, and NACUFS, FEDA, FCSI, NRA's MAECO and QA Managers Executive Study Groups, SFM, SFN and the Hospitality Supply Managers division of Institute of Management are also friends, but don't have affiliate member options.