Following 19 years with CAmagazine, Christian Bellavance is leaving the publication and the magazine industry at the end of the month.



Bellavance started with CAmagazine 19 years ago in Montréal, as the editor of the French-edition before he accepted the position as editor in chief for the brand in Toronto five years later. He describes his decision to leave for a position at Financial Executive International Canada as difficult, but says he is ready for a new challenge. “CAmagazine has won pretty much every award possible,” says Bellavance. “The readers and the management are happy. It’s time for a change, something new.”

When Bellavance started as editor in chief CAmagazine, he says it was more of a journal than a magazine and he is proud of the transformation it has made during his time there. “We have redesigned it to make it look like a real magazine,” he says. “Make it interesting, easy to read. We cater to the vast majority of chartered accountants. It isn’t just for one segment of the country, it’s a true national publication.”

Bellavance says he is going to miss his team at CAmagazine, having hired all of them, except art director Bernadette Gillen who arrived at the book just before he did. He will also miss the magazine industry, which he has been involved with his entire career. “I have been on the National Magazine Awards Foundation board, been the president of the National Magazine Awards, this is the first time I won’t be a journalist,” he says.

CAmagazine’s English-version editor Okey Chigbo will take over Bellavance’s responsibilities  when he leaves at the end of the month.

CAmagazine is published 10 times per year by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants.