Hearst UK CEO Anna Jones to step down
Jones completes her tenure as chief executive of Hearst in February 2017 after five years with the company. She is going on to co-found AllBright with Debbie Wosskow, serial entrepreneur and chief executive at Love Home Swap. Jones will also become executive chairman of ShareStyle, a digital marketplace for style services.
“ShareStyle will give creatives a showcase and route to market,” Jones said, “AllBright the investment and support for those budding entrepreneurs.”
During her time as chief executive, Jones was instrumental in championing Hearst’s dynamic distribution strategies for both Cosmopolitan and Elle. The new route to market programmes has allowed the brands to get their content out to an even bigger audience. The two titles also revealed redesigns, led by their prospective editors.
In the latest round of ABCs, Cosmopolitan recorded a 59.9 per cent year-on-year increase, and Elle, which only announced its new direction in July, delivered a 4.6 per cent year-on-year increase.
Jones launched new divisions such as the experiential and events-focused Hearst Live responsible for consumer events like Cosmo FashFest and Red’s Smart Women Week; as well as Hearst Made, a content marketing division which provides editorial content for the likes of Asda, P&G and Jamie Oliver magazine.
Commenting on her departure, Jones said: “It will be hard to say goodbye to Hearst, it’s an incredible business full of talented people and outstanding brands, but after many years running a large company I’m looking forward to becoming a female founder myself.”
Hearst UK is a member of FIPP.
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