Derek Webster, editor-in-chief of Maisonneuve, is moving on from the general interest quarterly he founded seven years ago to run day-to-day editorial operations at Reader's Digest. In his new role as RD's managing editor, Webster, 39, will have to step down from Maisonneuve, leaving the magazine in the hands of associate senior editor Carmine Sturnino, who has been with the magazine since it launched, and publisher Jennifer Varkonyi, who started with the magazine in early 2008. "I don't feel bad because Maisonneuve is in good hands," Webster said. "I kind of feel like my baby's all grown up now...It just feels natural to be moving on."

Webster, who will work under Robert Goyette, editor-in-chief of RD magazines and vice president, and oversee a staff of 12, says the new job attracted him for a variety of reasons. "Reader's Digest is the most-read magazine in the country," he said, "and from an editor's point-of-view, there's something in me that wants to speak to millions of readers instead of tens of thousands of readers." The fact that the magazine is monthly rather than quarterly and based in Montreal were also appealing to Webster. "I get paid more, too."

Though Maisonneuve is run as a non-profit and has a circulation of just 10,000, the magazine has won a whole bunch of awards over the year, including Magazine of the Year nods at the 2005 National Magazine Awards and 2006 CSME Editors' Choice awards.

Webster already sounds well-versed in the "we're not a magazine company, we're a media company"/"multi-platform" RD rhetoric, but he's unlikely to forget the lessons learned during his days with Maisy.  "Large or small, in the end, you're getting a magazine out the door."