Shannon Emmerson Entrepreneur, digital publishing strategist

It was a pleasure to work with Shannon within the Digital Media group at CanadaWide Media. She provided the opportunity to explore and grow technical in a demanding environment. She was always extremely professional and sensitive to creating a positive work environment for her team. Always thinking strategically and open for input from all of her team made her an exceptional manager.

I've had the opportunity to work for Shannon as both an intern and as a full-time employee, and in both positions I was shown respect, my ideas were always listened to, and I felt encouraged, supported, and challenged to produce my best work.

Shannon's prowess as a leader came in part from her vast knowledge of digital media and online publishing, and also from her strong communication skills and ability to connect with her employees. She gives her staff enough room to be creative and enough support to foster that creativity into great work. It was a pleasure working for such a smart and talented boss like Shannon.

Key to being an exemplary leader and visionary thinker is missionary work: converting the masses to your way of thinking. When I started at BCBusiness, I was by no means a believer in the digital world; it was a threat to what we did as magazine editors, not an opportunity. But by the time I left three years later, I had come to understand how effectively the two realms could and should work together. That is a testament not only to Shannon's great depth of knowledge about digital media, but also to her collaborative management style and her contagious enthusiasm.

I was Shannon’s first hire at Canada Wide Media and reported to her throughout her tenure as Director of Digital Media. During that time, I was privileged to be part of a very successful, talented and dynamic team that was led by a director whose understanding of digital media was as deep as it was broad and who understood what it meant to build cross-platform digital platforms with expansion and evolution in mind. Under Shannon’s guidance, the Canada Wide Digital Media Division created and managed seven popular, award winning websites and numerous enewsletters that reached very diverse audiences.

Shannon is extremely knowledgeable and talented and has been incredibly successful at putting together teams of people whose skills, experience and knowledge complement each other and who collaborate extremely well. Shannon has a knack for spotting and nurturing raw talent and helping people discover their full potential; she does not merely believe in hiring good people and getting out of the way – she gets out of your way, but makes sure you know you have her support. I can’t recommend Shannon or her work highly enough.

Shannon is one of those rare individuals that combines strategy, vision and execution while able to trust her team and contractors with the details of design, technical planning and implementation. She is a great bridge between corporate strategy and creative teams that has enabled forward growth.

Now, you might look with suspicion on a recommendation from a direct report, even a former one. But Shannon and I are in different cities, and the days of sycophancy getting me anywhere are done. So here's an unvarnished opinion from someone who worked with and observed her closely for four years. She's extremely good at what she does.

In my opinion, Shannon's genius is a systems genius. In building from scratch our digital department and team, she was the kind of conductor whose contribution ran much deeper than mere gestures of leadership. At Canada Wide, she not only rented the auditorium, hired the players, told them where to sit, and gave them their music--she persevered through early-stage wheezing and honking and coaxed 13 distinct instruments to sweetness and harmony. Shannon has a knack for hiring talented (and varied) people, and that helps, but for more than three years CWM had perhaps the best digital team in Canada, and that owes everything to the woman with the master plan.

Shannon is an extremely talented, conscientious, knowledgeable professional in her field. She is very strategic, detail oriented and is a collaborative leader with excellent management skills.

A strong contender for Best Boss Ever, Shannon Emmerson challenged her staff to do and be better - and always with an eye toward personal and professional development. She's creative, a born leader and intensely smart, easily earning the trust and admiration of all of us working on her team, of whom she was fiercely protective. Our 1:1s were always a highlight: creative jam sessions aimed at problem solving and reducing inefficiencies to mitigate stress.

Shannon brings out the best in each member of her team; I consider my time working under her direction as my most productive - and indeed a highlight of my career. I would recommend Shannon for almost any leadership position, knowing she will always lead her team to excellence.