Beyond the Boardroom Norman and Joni Rosinski, former owners of NorthBay biz
N orm and Joni Rosinski are the husband-and-wife duo that Early in their tenure, the Rosinskis had ambitious plans to facilitate growth for what was then called Sonoma Business by bringing in new staff members and expanding its existing Sonoma County coverage to include Marin and Napa counties. (They officially rebranded as NorthBay biz in 2003.) This decision proved beneficial as circulation more than doubled in the coming years. Now residing in Florida, the Rosinskis are blissfully enjoying retirement. “We miss California more than we thought we would. We wish everyone nothing but the best. It was a great 17 years,” they say. We asked the Rosinskis about their time with NBb and what they’ve been up to in retirement. What made you want to move from Chicago to purchase a magazine in Sonoma County? After reviewing opportunities to purchase various publishing companies in California, we were intrigued with the potential of acquiring a quality full-color B2B magazine located in the heart of Wine Country. What’s not to like about moving from chilly Illinois to sunny California? Armed with a business plan that couldn’t possibly fail, we were ready to take on Wine Country What moves did you make after acquiring Sonoma Business? We decided to begin our ownership of Sonoma Business magazine by expanding and improving the editorial content, adding more special features and columnists who could address topics of specific interest to the North Bay business community. We also hired better and more experienced writers, editors and photographers—and our plan was in full motion. What was the biggest challenge as new owners? propelled NorthBay biz magazine into what it is today. Looking back on the past 50 years, the magazine has gone through several iterations and the Rosinskis, who helmed the ship along with Joni’s brother John Dennis from 2000 to 2017, offer a peak behind the curtain of what it was like in earlier days. After coming from a background of publishing daily newspapers, we thought—how hard could it be to publish a monthly magazine? We quickly found out, sometimes working 10-hour days and never taking Fridays off, as we envisioned. How did you make connections in the community? We worked hard to become contributing members of the business community, attending and supporting many mixers and business events. We were welcomed and many of our story ideas and news features for the magazine came from those business and social events. We were overwhelmed by the many emerging strong business relationships, and friendships, that were being developed. Tell us about a particularly memorable moment from your years with the magazine Joni: I think planning and executing the Best of the North Bay event every year is one of my favorite memories. I truly enjoyed calling all the winners to let them know that our readers had chosen them as the “Best” or as a “Gold” winner. The night of the event was exciting, seeing all the winning businesses accepting their awards and being so proud of the accomplishment. I think my favorite Best Of event moment was at John Ash [restaurant] when Percy Brandon surprised us with an ice sculpture of our NBb logo. What have you been up to since selling the magazine? After we sold NorthBay biz to Lawrence [Amaturo], we moved back to Illinois and realized after 17 years in California, the winters were worse than we remembered. We started going south to the Fort Myers, Florida area to spend the winter months. After a few years, we bought a home and now enjoy country club living. How do you spend your time in retirement? Norm: Joni volunteers at the weekly church bingo, she also serves as president of the nine-hole Ladies Golf League and does fundraising for two charitable organizations—Quilts for Kids and Play 4 Pink breast cancer golf charity. If you can’t tell, Joni LOVES retirement. Joni: Norm is content playing bad golf, losing regularly at poker and suffering as a life-long Bears fan. And, as each week passes, Norm says, “This is the week I’m going to start my novel.” By Rosie Padilla
66 NorthBaybiz
December 2025
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