Redwood boss goes to start-up

Michael Potter, chief executive and co-founder of Redwood, is stepping down from the management of the contract publishing business after 20 years, to start up new company Seven Publishing. He will remain at Redwood in an advisory capacity.

Seven Publishing is planning to launch a monthly food magazine, called delicious, next spring. The magazine is an Australian publication, produced by the Australian Broadcast Corporation and FPC Magazines, and will be published in the UK under licence. Delicious was launched in Australia in October 2001 and has a circulation “close to” 100,000, according to Seven.

Potter will be the chairman of Seven, which has been co-founded with former BBC Worldwide director of lifestyle magazines Seamus Geoghegan, who will be Seven’s managing director.

At Omnicom-owned Redwood, Potter has been replaced by managing director Keith Grainger. Michael Baulk, chairman and chief executive of Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO, is to take over as chairman of the Redwood group of companies, which includes Cedar Communications.

Redwood publishes magazines for Boots, Marks & Spencer and the Welsh Development Agency. The contract publisher recently lost one of its biggest clients, Centrica-owned AA, to Forward (MW June 26).