John Kerr (sailor)
John Kerr (born August 9, 1951) is a Canadian sailor and publisher. He graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1973. Business career. Kerr started his business career part-time with Howdens Electric (now Westburne / Rexel) and then, after graduating from the University of Western Ontario he joined Canadian Chromalox. Kerr moved to Elvstrom Sails and Fogh Sails in Toronto working with Hans Fogh and John Eastwood and then held the position of Director of Marketing with North Sails Fogh after North Sails acquired Fogh Sails. Moving to the family publishing business Kerr joined Kerrwil Publications  Limited in 1980 he has held various positions to his current role of President and CEO. At Kerrwil he founded and established numerous business-to-business and trade titles including CAD CAM & Robotics, Manufacturing Automation, Machinery Technology, Structured Cabling, Lighting and Plastics Business. In 1985 Kerr acquired Canadian Yachting and Power Illustrated from MacLean Hunter. In 1988 he led the formation of an international network of Plastics magazines and followed with an alliance in the electrical industry representing Electrical Construction & Maintenance and Electrical Wholesaling. In 1986 Kerr started the research of the Electrical Market with the Pathfinder Report. Kerr established  Kerrwil Millennium in the United Kingdom with Geoff Ide to publish Structured Cabling Europe in 1998. In his role with Kerrwil he established Pathfinder "Canada's electrical industry benchmarking study" that reports and measures the Canadian electrical channel. In 2014 Kerr established Electrical Industry.ca a network of electrical B2B web sites serving the electrical industry, including "Electrical Industry News Week, Le Monde de L'Électricité, a title Kerrwil reacquired from Transcontinental Publishing), Canadian Electrical Wholesaler, Lighting Design and Specification, Drives and Control Solutions and Panel Builder and Systems Integrator". In 2020 Kerr established Kerrwil EMG to launch Panelbuilder US and Robotics  World. Kerr has worked outside the family firm with Laurentian Publishing, Page Publishing, LinkPATH Internet Network Corporation and Web Offset Publications (now Renaissance Printing), IP Group international (an electrical industry consulting firm founded by Paul Eitmant) and advised Thomas Publishing in the USA. Kerr has chaired the Canadian Business Press twice (1990- 1992) and most recently 2012-2017 helping the association align with Magazines Canada. He sat on the board of BPA International from 1995-2001 and was involved in the merging of the Canadian Circulations Audit board with BPA Worldwide. Volunteering. 1990–1996 Director Canadian Yachting Association, 2009–2015 Director Canadian  Yachting Association/SAIL Canada, 2010 -2019 A session Member, member Audit Committee, Canadian Olympic Committee,