John Wilpers has been helping media companies merge the old and new since 1996 when he helped launch AOL’s Digital City Boston. He partnered with print, television, and radio companies as well as AOL members to create a user experience rivaling NYC and LA for traffic.

Recently, Wilpers has been consulting with a variety of news media organisations, including the LA Times, The Christian Science Monitor, GlobalPost.com, and The Miami Herald, helping them increase their reach, relevance and revenue by integrating high-quality local blogs in their print and online products.

At the recently shuttered BostonNOW free daily, Wilpers pioneered the inclusion of local bloggers throughout the paper’s website and in the theme-appropriate pages of the newspaper. He has also launched more free dailies than any U.S. editor — BostonNOW, Washington Examiner and Boston Metro.