The general news publisher Time has hired media executive Mark Howard as its new chief operating officer, according to a memo shared by chief executive officer Jessica Sibley.
Howard, who will relocate to New York for the position, begins Monday.
In the role, Howard will oversee operations including print, digital, technology, consumer marketing, ecommerce, licensing, cryptomedia and finance, helping Time continue its transformation from a legacy print magazine into a multichannel editorial brand.
“Jessica laid out a vision for Time 3.0 about six months ago, and I am excited to help realize that,” Howard told Adweek. “It is a vision for how we can take what Time did in its first century and translate that into our second.”
Howard joins Time at a critical juncture. The publisher, which marked its centennial earlier this year, has invested heavily in efforts to diversify its revenue stream, launching Time Studios, expanding its events portfolio and experimenting with new technology, including cryptomedia and artificial intelligence.
Howard takes the reins from Ian Orefice, the former president and COO of Time and Time Studios, who left the company June 2, a departure that has not been previously reported. The publisher has named Alexa Conway and Mike Beck as the interim co-heads of Time Studios in his absence.
Before coming to Time, Howard served a brief stint at the advertising technology company OpenWeb. Prior to that, he worked as the chief advertising and partnerships officer at Penske Media Corporation for two years and the chief revenue officer at Forbes for eight years.
The publisher also turned heads earlier this year when, in April, it announced plans to drop its digital paywall June 1. The decision made Time one of only a handful of news organizations, alongside Quartz, to reverse its paywall strategy. Time has employed some version of a digital paywall since 2011.
Beginning this month, all 250,000 of its digital subscriptions ended, according to a Time spokesperson, eliminating a substantial portion of its reader revenue. Time still has roughly 1.3 million paid subscribers to its print product.
Despite a depressed advertising climate, the publisher has notched commercial gains over the last two years, increasing year-over-year revenue 10% in 2021 and 19% in 2022, according to a spokesperson. Last year, the company brought in around $200 million in revenue.
