40under40 Judge - Harry Kleyn

Harry Kleyn – WA Business News publisher

Publishing has been Harry Kleyn’s passion since the early 1970s when, after a short career in the building industry, he became involved in operating what was then a small community paper in Armadale.

During the next decade his company, known as the Comment Publishing Group, launched a series of community papers which by 1985 covered all the southern suburbs of Perth. In 1986 after a merger with another group Mr Kleyn became the founding partner and managing director of the Community Newspaper Group.

In 1993 after a short break from publishing Mr Kleyn took on the challenge as a publisher of WA Business News. From a small free circulation in the CBD and with an initial staff of six the publication now employs 40 full-time staff.

WA Business News has a growing paid circulation and is a ‘must read’ for those that want to stay in touch with WA business. In 2003 the publication was recognised internationally when it was awarded a bronze for the ‘Best Business Newspaper’ by the AABP in the USA.

Mr Kleyn was a founding director of the SBDC and is a past president of the WA Chamber of Commerce and Industry.