Keith J. Kelly

Keith J. Kelly

Media

Condé Nast retires publisher title amid leadership shakeup

The long-rumored Condé Nast business-side earthquake finally hit late Thursday — pushing out three publishers.

The company is moving fast to adapt to new business realities and the publisher title, once among the most prestigious in the magazine world, is no longer at Condé Nast.

Instead, the company is regrouping its magazines around chief business officers and chief industry officers responsible for business in seven top ad categories.

As Condé Nast retires the publisher title, it becomes the second major publisher to do so. Time Inc. eliminated publishers in its own sweeping reorganization last July.

The restructuring unveiled Thursday is the first big move by Jim Norton, a former top AOL sales executive who moved over in September to become the chief business officer and president of revenue at Condé Nast.

The aim is clearly seen as positioning the one-time king of upscale print titles for the multimedia digital world.

“I’m announcing a new business leadership team and a contemporary revenue structure, creating a nimble organization that will be responsive to the specific needs of our clients,” Norton wrote in a memo to staffers.

“This team will be oriented around two areas — brand collections and the client industries important to Condé Nast’s growth.”

The three publishers heading to the exits are:

  • Connie Anne Phillips, who was the group publisher and chief revenue officer in charge of Glamour and Self, which recently ended its print edition
  • Allure publisher Agnes Chapski
  •  Bride’s publisher Michelle Myer.

A fourth executive, Peter King Hunsinger, resigned as publisher of Golf Digest last week, ending a 36-year run at the company. He will head up an unidentified startup.

The new chief business officers are:

  • Howard Mittman, previously publisher of GQ, will now head GQ, GQ Style, Golf Digest, Golf World, Wired, Ars Technica, Backchannel and Pitchfork
  • Susan Plageman continues to run Vogue
  • Lisa Hughes continues to run The New Yorker
  • Chris Mitchell, who was the publisher of Vanity Fair, adds fashion title W to his new group
  • Kim Kelleher, who was publisher of Wired, now moves to oversee Glamour, Allure, Brides, Teen Vogue and Self
  • Giulio Capua, who was overseeing Architectural Digest and was a past publisher of Gourmet, now adds the Food Innovation Group, which includes Bon Appétit and Epicurious, and Condé Nast Traveler.

Additionally, two other new roles were created. Pamela Drucker Mann is the chief marketing officer and Josh Stinchcomb will be the new chief experience officer, a new title overseeing integrated marketing and its native advertising arm called 23 Stories. He will also lead licensing, archives and creation of new events.

The company also did away with the Condé Nast Media Group, which at one point numbered more than 100 people and was responsible for chasing the companies’ biggest advertisers. That work is now being parceled out in part to the chief business officers as well as to seven chief industry officers.

Lisa Valentino, a former ESPN sales executive, will be chief revenue officer, industry and agency, covering autos; media & entertainment and retail & travel; telcos, technology, business and finance; fashion/luxury; beauty; pharmaceuticals; food, beverage & spirits; and an eighth group that will hunt business from global ad agency holding companies.

In that sense, many of the groups follow the groupings that rival Time Inc. has been building since mid-2016.

Condé Nast said editorial brands will continue to operate independently, although most of the copy and design work is now being shared across titles after all the company’s designers, art directors and copy editors moved to the 21st floor at One World Trade Center earlier this month.