From Cygnus Defector to Competitor

EXCLUSIVE

Less than a month after resigning from his post as Cygnus Business Media group publisher, Greg Napert is launching a trade magazine that will compete for advertising dollars with the company he left.

Director of Maintenance, which targets aircraft maintenance business leaders, will be published by Napert and three of his former colleagues from Cygnus’ Aircraft Maintenance Technology magazine—including publisher Danny Faupel, editor-in-chief Joe Escobar and salesperson Bob Graf. All four left Cygnus on the same day.

The first issue is to be mailed in early July with an initial print run of 20,000.

At Cygnus, Napert served as group publisher for Aircraft Maintenance Technology, Airport Business and Ground Support Worldwide magazines, and founded Cygnus' AMT Society, a group for aircraft mechanics.

Napert did not sign a non-compete with Cygnus, he tells FOLIO:. A Cygnus spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.

“Although the reasons we left AMT are many and personal for each of us, we saw this launch as an opportunity to grow personally and professionally,” Napert said in a statement.

“More importantly,” he continued, “we saw an opportunity to help those that wish to market their products and services to the aircraft maintenance industry make better use of their marketing dollars by more effectively targeting important aircraft decision makers.”

Napert isn't the first ex-Cygnus employee to launch a competing product. In 2005, Mike Domke—a former publisher of Cygnus’ OEM Off-Highway magazine—launched Milo Media, which now publishes eight magazines covering the construction, industrial, power, lifting and utility markets. In November, Domke hired former Cygnus staffers Wolfgang Neuwirth and Greg Gerber to launch RV Industry News. Neuwirth had served as publisher and Gerber as editor of Cygnus’ RV Trade Digest.

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COMMENTS: 10

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Catchy Headline

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 05/15/2008 - 12:22.

Catchy Headline…. But how does this affect the industry? Will there be more of this kind of thing? Is this the trend that Paul Conley refers to in his blog or just an aberration?

Cygnus Defector Starts own mag

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 05/15/2008 - 17:17.

This is totally disgusting, unethical and you can better believe these folks were laying the groundwork to start this mag while collecting a paycheck from Cygnus. Willing to bet they stole company confidential records from the business including ad contact info, proprietary marketing materials, mail lists, etc. It's not a matter of how they were treated at Cygnus. This is dishonest. Let's hope Cygnus goes after them. This is a bad precedent to allow without some counter-action.

Reply to "Cygnus Defector" comment

Submitted by Former co-worker remaining anonymous for abvious reasons on Thu, 05/15/2008 - 20:56.

You have no idea who these guys are. They are the salt of the Earth and would never dream of doing something as seedy as stealing on the job. They were one of the best publishing groups at Cygnus. They embodied everything Cygnus/Johnson Hill Press stood for. These guys logged in over 25 collective years in aviation publishing. What made them leave? Who knows, maybe at the point of their careers felt it was time to try their own hand at publishing. Shame on you for being slanderous. You are out in left field buster. If you even had a clue what AMT was and what their new DOM are.. I'm remaining anonymous for the abvious reason I have ties to Cygnus and don't need my name dragged through the mud.

more than 40 years

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 05/16/2008 - 07:32.

The boys had more than 40 years in aviation publishing... and more than 20 years directly in aircraft maintenance industy. They are really getting old. Just because you do something a long time does not mean you are good at it.....I am not saying they are not, because they are, but we all know people that have been doing something for a long time and they are just doing it badly. It's sad.

sell them an ad

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 05/16/2008 - 08:37.

Here’s a thought -- why doesn’t Dave contact these guys and offer to sell them ad space in Aircraft Maintenance Technology and/or the website promoting their new magazine! Sound crazy? Maybe not. After all, Airport Business ran an ad in its March issue promoting Airport Expo 08, a trade show that competes directly with Aviation Industry Expo (one of Cygnus’ trade shows). In another example, Aviation Industry Expo sent out a series of email promos in February and March with “A note from our media partner” in the subject line. The series promoted Access Intelligence’s webinar program (a direct competitor to Cygnus' publishing and interactive efforts to create and promote its own interactive products). Cygnus has looked past long-term effects before to make the almighty dollar. Why not do it again? Why not promote the new competitor and make a few more dollars for Abry?

hose

Submitted by AnonymousOutside on Fri, 05/16/2008 - 09:31.

my limited experience with a small group of Cygnus employees and now some former Cygnus employees is that they are all a bunch of borderline ethical people. They will indeed do anything, say anything for the almighty dollar. Editorial integrity? What's that? I think they're missing a few words in their business dictionary, like integrity, ethics, business sense, values...

hose is right

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 05/16/2008 - 11:33.

Dear hose, I couldn't agree with you more...the lack of integrity, ethics, values, and business sense at Cygnus is nothing new, and I suspect that's why some of these guys are leaving...they might have had enough.

Contact Greg Napert

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 05/16/2008 - 11:36.

How do I get in touch w/Greg Napert, I want to offer my services as rep for the West Coast.

No action

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 05/19/2008 - 13:31.

Cygnus propably won't go after Napert because 1) it is well known that management personnel who live and work in Fort Atkinson are all planning their own exit strategies that may or may not include tactics similar to those taken by Napert, and 2) absentee owner-management personneldon't know enough about the day-to-day details of operating a single magazine to know what or how to go after them, or to even understand the value of whatever may have been taken or borrowed. And even if they did have a clue, the local management personnel will dissuade them and convince them of no wrongdoing (in anticipation of their own future actions).

To the person who said all Cygnus employees lack ethics...

Submitted by Cygnus is NOT staffed only by unethical people on Mon, 05/26/2008 - 01:02.

...that is a ridiculous comment and you know it. There have been many hundreds of employees at Cygnus over the years, and a ton of them have left because they were tired of the company's business practices. Don't blame the good people at Cygnus for the lousy practices practiced by that company. Cygnus is a company run by money-hungry people without any ethics or business acumen--that much is obvious. But the staff under them are the victims, not the perpetrators. Generalizing about every employee just because you've met a few bad apples says more about you than it does about anyone at Cygnus.

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