BISA Magazine - Quarter 4, 2017 - 32

EXIT STRATEGY

A Farewell to
BISA Magazine
By Andrew Singer

"A magazine is a community - a collection of like-minded
people who share an interest or enthusiasm."
Dear Readers,
As you may have heard, this is the last issue of BISA Magazine's quarterly print edition.

marketing. It is the job of a magazine's editor to serve that
community by finding the most sought-after information,
assembling it, absorbing it and presenting it in the most succinct, factual, readable manner possible.

It probably won't come as a great surprise. We all know the
story of print publishing, and how it's a disrupted industry.
People get their news, magazines, books, instruction manuals - basically everything - online today.

This effort depends on the kindness of strangers. If the
executives, managers, salespeople and marketers of the
banking, insurance and securities don't share their insights
or experience, no information is ever passed.

As many others have already noted, BISA is transitioning to
a digital-first content strategy, but even if BISA Magazine will
no longer be around in print, the community it served for
decades, the bank brokerage industry, still exists, as does its
trade association, the Bank Insurance and Securities Association (BISA). You remain in good hands.

Yours was a most generous community. From my vantage
point as reporter and editor, I made many cold calls to
members of the BISA community, and time and again people
responded. I once estimated that about half of my cold calls
were answered - a high percentage as any salesperson will
confirm, and a higher ratio than that of most any other business publication for which I worked.

For me, this marks the end of a process that began in 1994
when I became editor-in-chief of Bank Insurance Marketing,
as this magazine was then known. The whole industry was
something of novelty back then. Did anyone really believe
that consumers would buy their life insurance or their investments through banks?

There are a few people whom I would like to thank, my
close collaborators on the magazine across 20-plus years:
Marianne Erwin, Gina Lauer, Ravitej Khalsa, Kathleen Collins,
Dick Starr and Marc Vosen.

Well, they did. And today yours is a mature industry - as attested by the growing crowds at the BISA Annual Convention.
It has been my privilege to serve you over the past 23 years
as editor of your magazine, and for much of that time as
publisher too.
A magazine is a community - a collection of like-minded
people who share an interest or enthusiasm - whether it be
current events, pottery, travel, golf or even bank insurance

32
www.bisanet.org

Personally, this marks the end of an era. I'm changing vocations. I recently accepted a position as Adjunct Associate Faculty in Columbia University's Applied Analytics M.S. program.
I'm going over to the analytics side. No disruption there.
It is not inconceivable that I may see some of you again one
day. If so, I will salute you.
Sincerely,
Andrew Singer
Editor-in-Chief, BISA Magazine

http://www.bisanet.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of BISA Magazine - Quarter 4, 2017