Newspaper manager Jim Mihaly has moved on to new opportunities in the Canadian press industry after years of experience and an online business certificate.

Mihaly graduated from the School of Business and Economics in 2012. No stranger to the newspaper business, he grew up with a family-owned chain of papers and started his career as a reporter in Alberta in 1981. He was most recently the publisher of the Surrey Leader for almost eight years.

After about 30 years of experience, Mihaly was ready to sharpen his management skills and further his education online with online learning at TRU.

“The Executive General Management Certificate was a great program,” he said. “You learn to think outside of the box.”

He said that he went into the program with a positive attitude expecting to gain something and got twice the learning experience he had counted on.

“You learn about all aspects of business and how to put together a plan in a big-picture way. You learn to not act on your project until you’ve figured out how you’ll affect the whole operation.”

Now newspaper publisher and general manager, he oversees the Brandon Sun and the Carberry News Express in Brandon and Carberry, Manitoba.

“Getting to really know the thriving community of Brandon, Manitoba is going to be a fun, enjoyable challenge. There are about 60,000 people here and putting out a daily, while working at the local level will keep me busy.”