The 'Standard' Career Choices

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, Jan 1, 2003

Byline: Susan Thea Posnock

Recalling the waning days of The (we're tempted to call it "legendary") Industry Standard, editor Jane Goldman describes a conversation she had with Amy Bernstein, who was executive editor: "We were at the tail end of The Standard's life and thinking about what we were going to do next. Amy said, 'I'd like to work as an editor at a food magazine.' And I said, 'That's good, but not one that exists.' " Goldman says she started describing the type of magazine she envisioned. "The more I described it, the more enthusiastic I got."

Fast-forward a year and a half, and Goldman has transformed that initial brainstorm into Chow, a food magazine scheduled to launch this fall.

While Goldman has decided to leap to another category, other ex-Standard staffers have glommed onto the surviving "new economy" magazines. Bernstein is now a senior editor at Business 2.0. And Wired has been a refuge for several top Standard editors, including Bob Cohn and Thomas Goetz, executive editor and articles editor, respectively.

Some, like founding editor Jonathan Weber and founder and CEO John Battelle, are sharing their magazine knowledge with up-and-coming journalists. Weber - currently working as an executive editor for international research with OTA-Off the Record Research - was a visiting professor at the University of Montana last semester. He'll be teaching a business reporting class this semester. Battelle is on the faculty of the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley.

Weber and Battelle hint of magazines in their future. "Despite the kind of harsh ending [The Standard had], I thought the start-up experience was phenomenal," Weber says, "and I certainly would do it again. In fact, I expect to do it again." Battelle, being deliberately obfuscatory, reports that he's "talking to interesting people about interesting things." But his next big idea may spring from his students, who, he says, are full of bright ideas. "Wired came out of doing the same thing 10 years ago," he points out.

ADVERTISING & SALES

Hearst's Lifetime magazine, which launches in April, announced the following appointments: former Rosie associate publisher Andrea Alexander to advertising director; Tami Eagle to senior account director/regional manager, from account manager, Cosmopolitan; and Mary Zegras, former associate publisher at Money, to fashion and beauty director.

Rodale named Patricia Willstatter midwest sales manager for Organic Style and OG; most recently, she was the midwest sales manager for Rosie. Heather Roberts becomes the Chicago sales representative for Organic Style and OG, from account manager at Mountain Sports Media, and Lee Golden is the new beauty and fashion director at Organic Style. Golden had been fashion manager for Cosmopolitan.

Molly Hollister to account manager, Spin, from account manager of AOL Time Warner's Media Networks Inc.

Meredith Corp. announced two new account managers at Better Homes and Gardens: Breda Kellner, from sales development manager, Fitness; and Cathy Breen Austermann, from New York sales manager at Sports Illustrated Women.

Smithsonian magazine named Thomas F. Madden its New York manager, from category manager for Harvard Business Review; and Caryl Patrice Heard its sales development manager, from senior account manager for Fast Company.

Maureen Kelley Stewart to advertising sales representative, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, from account rep with Newsweek.

Anthony Rallo to ad director, Gear, from senior account manager.

CORPORATE

David Kieselstein to president of Time Inc.'s Parenting Group, from president of Money magazine. Chris Poleway, current president of the Fortune Group, will now oversee the Money Group as well.

John French to vice president of sales operations, Primedia Business Magazines & Media. Most recently, he was vice president for Penton Electronics Group.

Kris Paper to chief information officer, Primedia Business Magazines & Media. She was vice president and CIO for Aquila, Inc., a Kansas City-based energy trading company.

The MPA appointed John Lively, president and CEO of The Taunton Press, to chair its Smaller Magazine Advisory Council.

Thomas K. Corcoran to vice president and publisher of Penton Media's Convenience Store Group. Previously, he was publisher of Food Management.

EDITORIAL & ART

Scott Meyer to editor of OG (formerly Organic Gardening), from new media manager for Rodale's Organic Living Group.

Fleming Meeks to executive editor, SmartMoney. Meeks, most recently assistant managing editor at Barron's, replaces Robert Sabot, who will join Us Weekly as deputy editor.

Blaise Zerega to managing editor, Wired, from editor of Red Herring.

David E. Williams to editor-in-chief of CFQ Cinefantastique. Previously, he was executive editor of features at The Hollywood Reporter.

The following have joined the launch staff of Hearst's Lifetime magazine: Siobhan Hardy to design director, from art director for Marie Claire; Cynthia Grey Harris to art director, from More magazine; Pamela Guthrie O'Brien to executive editor, from the Magazine Development Group at Meredith Corp.; Sharman Stein to news editor, from various positions in the newspaper and magazine industries, including articles editor at Working Mother; Molly Lyons to associate editor, from various features positions at Self; Darcy Jacobs to senior editor, from features editor, Seventeen; Lauren Hicks to photo director, from photography editor for T+L Golf; and Donna Duarte to fashion director, from Real Simple magazine.