NEW YORK, July 22, 2014 – Alan Murray has been named Editor of Fortune, it was announced today by Todd Larsen, Executive Vice President, Time Inc. and Norman Pearlstine, Chief Content Officer, Time Inc.

 

Murray will be the 17th editor since Fortune was founded in 1930 by Henry R. Luce. He will oversee one of the world’s leading business publications, websites, and conference businesses, with more than 13 million readers worldwide in print, online, mobile and social media. He succeeds Andy Serwer, who is leaving the company. His first day will be August 25.

“Alan’s diverse background uniquely positions him to lead Fortune,” Larsen said. “He is a digital champion and media visionary who can bridge every aspect of our business, moving effortlessly from the newsroom to the boardroom to television to conference stage.”

“I came to appreciate Alan’s intellect, and his love of news about business and economics in the years we were both at The Wall Street Journal, and I have followed his career closely as he moved into management while expanding his interests from print to video, digital and events,” Pearlstine said. “There is no one more wired in the business and media worlds, and I am thrilled to have an editor of his caliber and intellect at the helm.”

“Fortune is one of the great brands of American journalism,” Murray said, “and my experience has convinced me great brands can not just survive, but thrive in the new media world. I’m humbled to be following in the footsteps of the likes of Andy Serwer, John Huey and Marshall Loeb, and I look forward to leading Fortune into an exciting new future.”

Murray joins Fortune having served as President of the Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C., which he joined in November 2012. At Pew, Murray oversaw a rapid expansion of the research center’s digital footprint, with web site traffic doubling and social media referrals tripling during his time there. He also led the Center into an exploration of new data methodologies in its research and an expansion of its global work. Murray’s op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on the Center’s 11th annual state of the media, “Seven Reasons for Optimism About the News Business” can be read here.

Previously, Murray was at The Wall Street Journal, where he served as Deputy Managing Editor and Executive Editor, Online, with editorial responsibility for the Journal’s web sites, mobile products, television, video, books and conferences. He also spent a decade as the Journal’s Washington Bureau Chief, during which the bureau won three Pulitzer Prizes. In between his stints at the Journal, Murray served as CNBC’s Washington Bureau Chief from 2002 to 2005, co-hosting “Capital Report with Alan Murray and Gloria Borger.” At various times, he wrote the Journal’s weekly Business and Political Capital columns and won numerous awards for his writing on economics and international issues.

Murray is the author of four books: The Wall Street Journal Guide to Management, Revolt in the Boardroom, The Wealth of Choices, and Showdown at Gucci Gulch, coauthored with Jeffrey Birnbaum. He is a member of the Gridiron Club, the New York Economics Club and the Council on Foreign Relations, and serves on the Governing Council of the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia.

Murray began his journalism career as the business and economics editor of the Chattanooga Times. He also worked at the Congressional Quarterly in Washington and at the Nihon Keizai Shimbun in Tokyo on a Luce Fellowship. He received a bachelor’s degree in English literature from the University of North Carolina and a master’s degree in economics at the London School of Economics. In 2005, he completed the Stanford Executive Program. He is married to Dr. Lori Murray, Distinguished Chair for National Security at the U.S. Naval Academy. They have two daughters, Lucyann and Amanda, and live in Greenwich, CT.

After eight years as the editor of Fortune—the longest service of any editor since the 1980s—and more than 29 years at the brand, Andy Serwer is leaving Time Inc.

Among his many accomplishments, Serwer oversaw the relaunch and redesign of Fortune’s magazine and website and led a major expansion of its conference division. He oversaw the successful separation of Fortune.com from CNNMoney and launched Fortune’s iPad edition. In recent months, Serwer oversaw a significant expansion of the editorial staff, with more than 24 hires to support the relaunch of Fortune.com.

Under Serwer’s leadership, Fortune has won numerous Loeb, Deadline Club and SABEW awards, among others. In 2014, Fortune received two New York Press Club awards and Katherine Eban’s series of investigative reports on Ranbaxy received a Deadline Club Award and was nominated for a National Magazine Award.

Fortune’s conference division has grown significantly under Serwer’s watch, with major increases in attendance, revenue, sponsorship and program volume over the past eight years. In addition to its three annual tentpole events —Most Powerful Women, Brainstorm Tech and Brainstorm Green—Fortune has added a number of satellite conferences in London, Hong Kong, Las Vegas and elsewhere. The Fortune Global Forum in Chengdu, China in 2013 was the most successful gathering of Fortune 500 leaders in the history of the franchise.

In a challenging advertising environment, with all of its competitors seeing declines, Fortune is up 6% in revenue and 3% in ad pages for the first half of 2014 (PIB, June 2014). Fortune.com was sold out in ad inventory for its relaunch in June, and the 2014 Fortune 500 issue was the thickest in pages since 2005.

About Time Inc.

Time Inc. (NYSE: TIME) is one of the largest media companies in the world reaching more than 130 million consumers each month across multiple platforms. With influential brands such as TIME, PEOPLE, Sports Illustrated, InStyle, Real Simple, Wallpaper, Travel + Leisure and FOOD & WINE, Time Inc. is home to celebrated events and franchises including the FORTUNE 500, TIME 100, PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive, Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year, the FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen and the ESSENCE Festival.

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