Condé Nast continued to shake up its management ranks on Thursday by naming longtime Vanity Fair publisher Ed Menicheschi as chief marketing officer and president of the Condé Nast Media Group.
Menicheschi will replace Lou Cona, who is getting the boot. Some were speculating that Gina Sanders, the president of Condé’s Fairchild division, might land the vacant Vanity Fair job now that her group is being sold out from under her to Penske Media Corp.
Well-placed sources were dismissing that speculation as “dead wrong” on Thursday. Condé Nast has officially said that Sanders — who is married to Steve Newhouse, part of the family that owns Condé and its parent company, Advance Publications — will stay with Condé Nast in a yet-to-be revealed capacity.
No replacement has been tapped yet at VF.
And Condé watchers say it will be interesting to see how much input Vanity Fair Editor-in-Chief Graydon Carter has in picking his business-side partner, since he played a major role in the selection of Menicheschi for the job back in 2006.
The moves are the latest in a series of high-level changes under Condé President Bob Sauerberg, who now has his hands into virtually all the revenue-generating pieces of the company.
Manicheschi’s new group brings in the majority of the company’s print ad revenue, but he clearly is aiming for more digital dollars.
“This is an unprecedented opportunity to transform the Condé Nast Media Group to more effectively reach premium audiences, cultivate data services and innovate new ad products, native and client solutions and cross-platform deals,” he said.