—Mark Ellis Appointed President and Chief Operating Officer, Time Inc. Sales and Marketing; To Head Automotive Category—
—Greg Schumann Appointed President, Pharmaceuticals, Time Inc. Sales and Marketing—
—Brendan Ripp Appointed President, Technology and Telecommunications, Time Inc. Sales and Marketing—
NEW YORK – Time Inc. (NYSE:TIME) Chairman and CEO Joe Ripp and Mark Ford, Executive Vice President of Global Advertising of Time Inc., announced that the company is establishing a new advertising sales go-to-market strategy to better serve the marketers and agencies of three categories: automotive, pharmaceuticals and technology and telecommunications.
- Mark Ellis has been appointed President and Chief Operating Officer, Time Inc. Sales and Marketing. He was most recently Senior Vice President of Corporate Sales. In this newly created role, the category teams will report to Ellis, and he will also lead the automotive category. Ellis continues to report to Ford.
- Greg Schumann has been appointed President, Pharmaceuticals, Time Inc. Sales and Marketing. He was most recently Senior Vice President and Group Publishing Director of Southern Living, Coastal Living and Sunset.
- Brendan Ripp will become President, Technology and Telecommunications, Time Inc. Sales and Marketing. He was most recently Senior Vice President and Publishing Director of the Sports Illustrated Group.
Ellis, Schumann and Ripp are charged with creating teams of sellers and sales support experts to focus exclusively on these specific advertising categories. Schumann and Ripp will report to Ellis and the appointments are effective immediately. Time Inc. will formally operate with this approach by the end of the first quarter.
“We are confident that this new structure will deliver even greater results for our customers, more revenue for Time Inc. and more opportunities for our talent to stretch and hone their skills in a rapidly changing marketplace,” said Joe Ripp. “Mark, Greg and Brendan understand the way the marketplace is changing and have the know-how to lead in this environment,” Ripp added.
Ford commented: “Our product offerings allow us to compete across the broad media landscape. This category structure will allow us to share industry insights, along with a deeper understanding of our clients’ businesses to bring them the best ideas to move their products and services forward. Mark’s leadership and skill navigating our agency partners and the inner workings of our organization have prepared him for this important role. Greg and Brendan also have an unmatched understanding of selling the scale of Time Inc.”
“We have analyzed the media sales marketplace, listened to our customers, examined our competition and evaluated our current structure. It is clear that our customers are buying differently, and we have a significant opportunity to increase our share of the market,” said Ellis. “Greg and Brendan are smart, progressive sales leaders who have the skill and experience to ensure success.”
At Southern Living, Publisher Ron King now reports to Evelyn Webster, Executive Vice President, Time Inc. Brendan Smyth, associate publisher of Sunset and Coastal Living – East, and Amy Olmsted, associate publisher of Sunset and Coastal Living – West, will continue in their roles and will report temporarily to Time Inc. Senior Vice President Bruce Larson.
Brendan’s leadership team at the Sports Illustrated Group will continue in their roles, reporting to Rich Battista: Jon Tuck, Vice President of Sales, who will continue to oversee day-to-day ad sales for the group; Damian Slattery, Chief Marketing Officer; and Hillary Drezner, Executive Director of SI Live Properties and Experiential Marketing.
Since Ellis joined Time Inc. in 2014, the corporate sales team has created and delivered hundreds of best-in-class integrated marketing solutions for advertising partners. Ellis was Vice President of North American Sales at Yahoo!, where he grew share from Fortune 500 companies and was responsible for almost $3 billion in revenue. He previously was Executive Vice President North American Sales at AOL. Ellis also worked at IMG and the internet start-up Quokka Sports after having spent several years at Time Inc., where he held a variety of executive positions, including Publisher of Time Inc. New Media and Publishing Director for Sports Illustrated. He began his career in Detroit working on automotive business for advertising agency Kenyon & Eckhart.
Schumann’s most recent role was as Group Publisher of Southern Living, Coastal Living and Sunset. Under his leadership, Southern Living achieved robust growth and just recently enjoyed a record-setting 50th anniversary issue. Schumann led the creation and expansion of many of the brand’s profitable extensions, including a licensing partnership with Dillard’s, which now has more than 600 SKUs, and the establishment of a branded designer network across both Southern Living and Coastal Living. Schumann previously led all strategic business initiatives and sales and marketing efforts for Time Inc.’s Parenting Group.
Brendan Ripp most recently served as Group Publisher of the Sports Illustrated Group, where he led the development of nearly two dozen brand extensions, including a new film production unit, a college sports vertical, consumer events for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit and most recently the launch of SI Overtime, a branded content studio. Ripp also formed content, media and marketing partnerships with WebMD and Wired, prior to which he served as Publisher of Time, Fortune and Money.
About Time Inc.
Time Inc. (NYSE:TIME) is one of the world’s leading media companies, with a monthly global print audience of over 120 million and worldwide digital properties that attract more than 150 million visitors each month, including over 60 websites. Our influential brands include People, Sports Illustrated, InStyle, Time, Real Simple, Southern Living, Entertainment Weekly, Travel + Leisure, Cooking Light, Fortune and Food & Wine, as well as more than 50 diverse titles in the United Kingdom, such as Decanter, Horse & Hound and Wallpaper*. Time Inc. is home to celebrated franchises and events, including the Fortune 500, Time 100, People’s Sexiest Man Alive, Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year, the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, the Essence Festival and the biennial Fortune Global Forum. Hundreds of thousands of people attend our live media events every year. We have been extending the power of our brands through various investments and acquisitions, including the formation of Sports Illustrated Play, a new business devoted to youth and amateur sports, and the acquisition of inVNT, a company that specializes in live media. We also provide content marketing, targeted local print and digital advertising programs, branded book publishing and marketing and support services, including subscription sales services for magazines and other products, retail distribution and marketing services and customer service and fulfillment services, for ourselves and third-party clients, including other magazine publishers.
via BusinessWire
