Inc. editor Jim Ledbetter, who jumped to the job in January from the tumultuous Thomson Reuters, is starting to put his own stamp on the monthly title for entrepreneurs.
He’s just tapped veteran media reporter Jon Fine to be executive editor, starting May 5, and raided Boston-based Fortune writer David Whitford to return to Inc. as an editor-at-large.
Fine, who split nine years on the media beat between Ad Age and Businessweek, has most recently been working on completing his memoir, “Your Band Sucks,” due out from Penguin in 2015.
It’s about his 25 years on the indie underground rock scene.
“There were a lot of famous people who came out of that,” said Fine. “I was not one of them.”
Fine said he regards Inc. and its sister title, Fast Company, as two “of the pioneers of the downtown media scene.”
Parent Mansueto Ventures took space overlooking the World Trade Center site in 2007, when the former site of the Twin Towers was still a gaping wound.
While Fine made his mark during his nine years as a media reporter, he also won a James Beard Award in 2011 for an article in Food & Wine on eccentric French wine makers.
More recently, he served 14 months as editorial director at Magnum Photos, before leaving to finish his book.
“He’s had his hand in just about every piece of the publishing pie,” said Ledbetter, who is back in a print product for the first time since 2006 and is looking to expand the reach.
Fine will work on both the print and digital side.