James M. Keefe

Highline Media LLC was formed in October 2003 to acquire The National Underwriter Company, the leading publisher and reference provider to the insurance and financial industries. Magazine brands include the National Underwriter Property, Casualty and Life, Health weeklies, Claims, Tech Decisions, Insurance Advocate and Florida Underwriter, the reference tools Tax Facts and Fire, Casualty & Surety Bulletins, along with 150 other books and electronic products, and three conference events. In May 2004, the company added insurance and banking data assets, including regulatory, M&A and publicly traded data, from The Thomson Corporation. In the fall of 2005, Highline acquired Wealth Manager Magazine from Bloomberg and Research and Futures magazines from Adams Business Media. The company has 250 employees and revenues of $50 million. The company is backed by Spire Capital, a private equity firm whose current fund is making investments totaling $260 million, and the banks Harris Nesbitt, Brown Brothers Harriman and Wells Fargo.