Sources: Penton Sale Earned New Cygnus CFO His Job

Plus: Relocation of CFO position closes CT Cygnus office.

While not a traditional CFO type, former Penton Media vice president of finance Jim Ogle impressed private equity firm ABRY Partners (which owns Cygnus Business Media and sold Penton last fall) during the sale of Penton Media to the point that Cygnus management tapped him to take over the CFO position at Cygnus, sources say.

Penton, which many observers thought would have trouble earning back ABRY's initial investment, ended up selling for $530 million and 9x EBITDA to Wasserstein & Co. and MidOcean Partners. On other hand, ABRY took Cygnus off the auction block last summer and appointed two new Co-CEOs in Carr Davis and Anthony O'Brien.

At Penton, Ogle oversaw financial strategies for the Electronics Group and Technology & Lifestyle Division, and was part of developing corporate strategy, which today falls under the umbrella of the "new" publishing CFO.

Cygnus Closes CT Branch
Ogle, who replaces former Cygnus CFO Ken Fisher, will work out of Cygnus' Hackensack, NJ and Calverton, MD offices. Fisher had been the only employee in the Cygnus CT office following the departure of former CEO (and CT resident) Paul Mackler last summer.

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