Kelsey (pictured on the right) received the award at a ceremony attended by more than 100 senior figures from UK publishing at the Royal Bank of Scotland’s flagship headquarters in Bishopsgate, London on October 9.
He is the 23rd recipient of the prestigious award, which was established by the PPA and the National Magazine Company (now Hearst Magazines UK) in 1990 in honour of the Reverend Marcus Morris OBE, founder of Eagle comic in 1950.
Previous winners include Dame Helen Alexander, Sir David Arculus, Felix Dennis, and Lord Heseltine.
Charles Reed (pictured on the left), Group Managing Director of William Reed Business Media and Deputy Chairman of the PPA, presented Kelsey with a citation and an honorarium of £1,000 as well as a silver trophy in the shape of the Eagle comic emblem.
Kelsey started his career in publishing with Reed Business Information 30 years ago and was appointed to the company’s board in 1992 as Managing Director of Estates Gazette. He pioneered the launch of paid-for data services, starting with EGi in 1996, and was also behind the launch of Totaljobs.com in 2000.
He was appointed CEO of RBI UK in 2008 and in 2010 stepped up to the role of Global CEO. During this time he has led RBI’s transformation from a traditional publisher to a provider of must-have data and information solutions.
Barry McIlheney, Chief Executive of the PPA, said: “I am delighted to be able to honour Mark Kelsey with this year’s Marcus Morris Award.
"This award recognises the outstanding achievements of publishing’s leaders and pioneers, and Mark can certainly be counted among that number for his work in successfully steering RBI through such times of great change in our industry.”
About PPA
The PPA says: “The PPA promotes and protects the interests of print and online publishers of consumer and business media in the UK. The PPA has around 200 publishing companies in its membership, which collectively produce more than 2,500 consumer and business magazines and journals as well as digital media, data products and events.”
