# Jeff Elgie

> Jeff Elgie is the founder and CEO of Village Media, a digital local-news and publishing-technology company based in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. An entrepreneur with a background in IT, digital marketing and consulting, he formed Village Media in 2013 around SooToday and BayToday, expanded its community newsrooms, and developed a model combining free local reporting, advertising, publishing software and community participation. His other local business interests include DIG, OutSpoken Brewing and Peace Restaurant.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at Village Media
- **Organizations:** Village Media, Digital Intelligence Group (DIG), Lucidia, OutSpoken Brewing, Peace Restaurant
- **From:** Sault Ste. Marie, Canada
- **Nationality:** Canadian
- **Education:** Western University, Sir James Dunn Collegiate and Vocational School
- **Known for:** Founded Village Media in 2013 and expanded from two Northern Ontario publications into a network of local newsrooms., Built a publishing business that also licenses its proprietary platform to other publishers., Honoured by Algoma University at the 2025 John R. Rhodes Scholarship Dinner.

## Career timeline

- **Age 15** — Began founding and operating businesses in information technology and digital communications.
- **2001–2012** — Built and led communications agency Lucidia before leaving to pursue digital consulting.
- **2012–2013** — Established Digital Intelligence Group, focused on website traffic, conversions, advertising and digital properties.
- **2013** — Took over ownership of SooToday and formed Village Media, with BayToday already part of the business.
- **2016** — Village Media entered Guelph shortly after the closure of the Guelph Mercury.
- **2023** — Expanded into Ontario political reporting with The Trillium and spoke publicly against the Online News Act’s approach.
- **2024** — Introduced SPACES and expanded into downtown Toronto with TorontoToday.
- **2025** — Named the John R. Rhodes Scholarship Dinner honouree at Algoma University.
- **2026** — Village Media announced a Knight Foundation-backed plan for 15 U.S. newsrooms; AppletonToday launched in September.

## Achievements

- Founded Village Media in 2013 and expanded from two Northern Ontario publications into a network of local newsrooms.
- Built a publishing business that also licenses its proprietary platform to other publishers.
- Honoured by Algoma University at the 2025 John R. Rhodes Scholarship Dinner.
- Led Village Media as it announced a $5 million Knight Foundation investment supporting a planned 15 U.S. newsrooms in 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Village Media’s September recap confirmed AppletonToday was live and reported a new OpenAI partnership and the Sault Ste. Marie pilot of its Open Door community resource navigator.
- **2026-09** — Elgie appeared on episode 23 of the Connected North Podcast to discuss entrepreneurship, leadership and building Village Media.
- **2026-07** — Village Media announced a $5 million Knight Foundation investment to help establish 15 local U.S. newsrooms, beginning in Wisconsin.
- **2026-04** — Presented Village Media’s service-journalism and community-platform approach in an Innovate Local session.

## Links

- Website: https://www.villagemedia.ca/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-elgie
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/JeffElgie

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jeff-elgie
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-16