Refinery29 has hired Nicholas Butterworth, most recently Time Inc.’s head of digital product engineering, as executive VP overseeing product and engineering teams.
In addition, the female-targeted media company announced that Marissa Rosenblum — after a four-and-a-half-year stint at retailer Barneys New York — has rejoined Refinery29 as senior director of commerce.
Butterworth will be responsible for new product development, product management, user experience design, digital engineering and information technology. He reports to Justin Stefano and Philippe von Borries, Refinery29’s co-founders and co-CEOs.
In announcing Butterworth’s hire, Stefano said, “Nicholas is an incredible addition to the team, bringing a deep expertise in engineering and product innovation that will be invaluable to our company as we optimize our onsite user experience for video and shopping and enhance our bespoke [content management system] with new editorial features.”
Previously, Butterworth was SVP of digital product engineering for Time Inc., leading a team of 180 and responsible for engineering and product development for 25 U.S. websites including People.com, Time.com, SI.com, Fortune.com, RealSimple.com, InStyle.com and HelloGiggles.com. Meredith closed its deal to acquire Time Inc. in January, and last month sold Time magazine to Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff and his wife, Lynne Benioff.
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Rosenblum, in her new role as Refinery29’s senior director of commerce, reports to global editor-in-chief and co-founder Christene Barberich. Most recently Rosenblum served as VP of Barneys New York’s content croup, managing the company’s editorial site. She previously worked at Refinery29 as shopping and market director and editorial director of e-commerce from 2012-14. Rosenblum also served as Senior Fashion Market Editor at Seventeen Magazine where she began her editorial career as a fashion assistant.
“We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Marissa back to Refinery29, especially for a role she was born to do,” said Barberich. “By merging her content prowess with an unmistakable knack for product and problem solving, Marissa is poised to lead a critical new chapter in our affiliate commerce business and vision.”
In another recent hire, Chris Sumner, previously an exec at Live Nation Entertainment, joined Refinery29 as senior VP of business development and strategy.
Refinery29 launched its redesigned website in May 2018, and since then on-site video views have increased 462% while shopping-site visitors are up more than fourfold, according to the company. Refinery29 plans to launch a new video homepage to boost views. Investors in the New York-based company, founded in 2005, include Turner, Discovery and WPP Ventures.
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