Michael Atkins is President and principal shareholder of the Laurentian Media Group, a diversified publishing company producing weekly newspapers, regional business publications, trade magazines, consumer magazines, and multimedia products in Canada.  Doing business in northern Ontario for over 30 years, Laurentian=s properties include Northern Life newspaper in Sudbury, Northern Ontario Business, and Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, as well as the annual celebrations the Northern Ontario Business Awards of Excellence and the Sudbury Community Builders Awards.   

Over the years, Mr. Atkins has served on the boards of numerous community organizations, including the Sudbury Theatre Centre, Sudbury YMCA, and the Sudbury Chamber of Commerce, and is currently Chair of the Northern Centre for Advanced Technology.  For seven years he co-chaired a local economic diversification group Sudbury 2001, made up of business, labour and academic leaders.  He is a 2004 recipient of the Paul Harris Fellow Award from the Rotary Club of Sudbury and in June 2005 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Laurentian University. Mr. Atkins was named to Laurentian=s Board of Governors in June 2005.