Mary Kemmis

Notable work and positions

Carpenter Media Group — Senior Vice President and Group Publisher, Canadian Division
Black Press Media — Former Division President (BC North and Prairie divisions); Former Publisher, Red Deer Advocate and Peace Arch News

Biography

Mary Kemmis is senior vice president and group publisher of the Canadian division of Carpenter Media Group. She grew up on a farm near Smithers, British Columbia, and began her career as a reporter at the Smithers Interior News before enrolling in the journalism program at Langara College in Vancouver. She went on to report for the Cranbrook Daily Townsman before moving into media sales and sales management, working for newspaper and radio companies across Western Canada and later Ontario. She returned to community newspapers as a publisher with Black Press Media in 2007, serving as publisher and general manager of Peace Arch News and later of the Red Deer Advocate, where she also launched the lifestyle magazine Prairie Living. She served as president of Black Press Media's Prairie Division, overseeing 18 newspapers, 11 websites, and a press and mailroom operation, before being appointed vice president of the company's BC North Division in late 2021, based in Terrace and overseeing the Terrace, Prince Rupert, and Kitimat papers. She later served as division president for Black Press Media North. Kemmis received Langara College's 49 Langarans Award and the Red Deer & District Community Foundation's 2020 Women of Excellence award for Business and Professions, and served as president of the Alberta Weekly Newspaper Association.