Jessica Pels has been elevated to editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan as part of a sweeping editorial shake-up at the Hearst magazine empire.
The appointment of Pels, who had been Cosmopolitan.com’s top editor, is part of a shift at the publisher that is seeing the walls between digital and print being torn down.
Michele Promaulayko, who had held the editor-in-chief post at Cosmo — the company’s most profitable magazine brand — is exiting the company.
Hearst also said that 115-year-old Redbook will be going all-digital in January.
Two other print magazine editors, at House Beautiful and Seventeen, are out as top digital people take over.
At three Hearst titles — Popular Mechanics, Men’s Health and Women’s Health — it was the print editors who got the nod over their digital counterparts.
In addition, Veranda is going to be packing up and moving to Birmingham, Ala., with Steele Marcoux in charge as the new editor-in-chief. She replaces Clint Smith, who resigned several weeks ago with news that Veranda would be joining its sibling title Country Living in Birmingham.
The shake-up is expected to eliminate about 35 jobs across the company. It is the first major editorial restructuring at the company since Troy Young, the former head of digital, was named to succeed David Carey as magazines president in late July — and shortly thereafter appointed Kate Lewis, previously editorial director of digital, to replace Joanna Coles as chief content officer.
In his previous role, Young had supervised all top editors in Hearst’s fast-growing digital area, while Coles oversaw print, which despite a tough market still accounted for 80 percent of the division’s revenue. The separation of powers had created tension in the ranks between the two sides.
As part of the changes, Richard Dorment, the editor-in-chief of Men’s Health, adds Menshealth.com to his purview. Sources said MH’s digital director, Sean Evans, and deputy editor, EJ Dickson, are leaving.
Women’s Health editor-in-chief Liz Plosser will oversee both print and digital. She joined in January from Well + Good.
Ryan D’Agostino, editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics, adds responsibility for the digital operations.
Joanna Saltz, who in June added duties as editorial director of Housebeautiful.com to her job running the food website Delish, becomes editorial director of House Beautiful. Saltz replaces Sophie Donelson, who is exiting the company.
Kristin Koch, who was executive editor of Seventeen.com, will now oversee all content, including the print magazine. In the latter role, she replaces Joey Bartolomeo, who is out.
On the business side, Jack Essig, senior VP and publishing director of Esquire and Popular Mechanics, will add responsibility for Men’s Health, Prevention and Bicyling to his roster.
Paul Collins, publishing director of Runner’s World and Bicycling, will report to him, while Ronan Gardiner, chief revenue officer of Men’s Health, Runner’s World and Bicycling, exits the company.
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