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Meredith Kopit Levien

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Meredith Kopit Levien
Meredith Levien in 2023
Born
Meredith Kopit

1970 or 1971 (age 53–54)
EducationUniversity of Virginia (BA)
OccupationMedia executive
Known forChief executive officer of The New York Times Company
SpouseJason Levien (divorced)
Children1

Meredith Kopit Levien (born 1970/1971)[1] is an American media executive who is the chief executive officer of The New York Times Company.

Early life and education

Meredith Kopit was raised in Richmond, Virginia,[2] the daughter of Carole and Marvin Kopit.[3] She has one sister, Barbara.[3] As a youth, she was a member of the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization (she remains on its advisory council today).[4] She graduated from the University of Virginia[5] where she majored in rhetoric and worked at the college newspaper, The Cavalier Daily.[6]

Career

After college, she worked at The Advisory Board Company, a consulting firm founded by David G. Bradley and then for the digital agency i33/AppNet. After Bradley bought Atlantic Media (publisher of The Atlantic), he recruited her in 2003 as an advertising director. In 2006, Levien became the first publisher of Atlantic Media's magazine 02138.[6]

In April 2008, she joined Forbes Media where she ran Forbes Life magazine. She focused on the digital side of the magazine which helped in stemming losses. In 2010, the CEO, Tim Forbes, appointed her group publisher. She implemented programmatic buying (where the purchase of advertisements is done through online media) and Brandvoice, which allows advertisers to create their own content under the Forbes logo. This new method of advertising, denominated as native advertising, has been criticized for blurring the line between editorial and advertising. In 2012, she was named chief revenue officer at Forbes Media.[6][7]

In July 2013, she was appointed head of advertising at The New York Times Company by CEO Mark Thompson[8][9] to help to stem the decline in advertising revenues (which had declined from a peak of $1.3 billion in 2000 to $667 million in 2013). She refocused The New York Times toward digital content and sales, hiring 80 new employees with Internet skills and offered severance packages to 40 long-serving employees. She introduced native advertising under the name "Paid Posts" to increase advertising revenue; clients include Netflix, Chevron, Dell and MetLife.[2]

In April 2015, she was promoted to chief revenue officer of The New York Times, responsible for all advertising and subscription revenue.[10] She hired the former Pinterest executive David Rubin to be The Times' head of brand.[11] She oversaw the development of The Times' first brand marketing since 2010, which began with the "Truth is Hard" campaign.[12] She changed the company's advertising sales strategy from display advertisements to non-traditional, longer-term advertising partnerships.[9][13] In June 2017, she was promoted to chief operating officer of The New York Times,[14] managing "the teams responsible for digital product, design, audience and brand, and consumer revenue and advertising".[15] Under her stewardship, The Times reported record subscription growth.[16]

She has described the company's business model as "make something worth paying for", and changed the model into a direct-to-consumer business. Levien has said the company's digital products should be "as addictive and unrivaled as the journalism itself", and has spoken out in defense of local news, saying "quality, original, independent journalism at the local level is... foundational to community, to society, and ultimately to democracy".[17] In July 2020, she was named president and chief executive of The New York Times Company,[18] effective from September 8, 2020. She also joined the New York Times Company's board.[19]

Levien was a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute in 2016.[20] In 2017, she was named one of the "50 most innovative CMOs in the world" by Business Insider.[21] Levien was included in Adweek's 2018 list of "50 Indispensable Media, Marketing and Tech Players" and 2019 "Publishing Hot List", in which she was named Executive of the Year.[22]

Personal life

She has a son with Jason Levien;[23] they later divorced.[24]

References

  1. ^ Perlberg, Steven (19 August 2020). "'Unstoppable innovator': The meteoric rise of Meredith Kopit Levien, the next New York Times CEO". Digiday. Retrieved 5 June 2021. At 49, Levien is the youngest person to reach the paper's CEO job, and her rise at the Times has been astonishingly swift.
  2. ^ a b Pompeo, Joe (29 September 2014). "Going native at the Times". Capital New York. Archived from the original on 1 March 2015.
  3. ^ a b "Marvin Kopit". Washington Post. 2 January 2013 – via Legacy.
  4. ^ Kassel, Matthew (23 July 2020). "Meredith Kopit Levien named CEO of 'The New York Times'". Digiday. Levien, who is married to Jason Levien — co-chairman and CEO of the pro soccer club D.C. United — is an alumna of BBYO (B'nai B'rith Youth Organization) and remains active with the Jewish youth group as a member of its advisory council for the Anita M. Perlman Women's Leadership Initiative.
  5. ^ "Meredith Kopit Levien - Executive Vice President, Advertising". The New York Times Company. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  6. ^ a b c Sternberg, Josh (9 July 2013). "Back in Black: Forbes' Champion of Innovation". Digiday. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  7. ^ Sebastian, Michael (2 December 2013). "Need a Native-Ad Rock Star? Find a Former Forbes Exec". AdAge.
  8. ^ McGeveran, Tom (17 April 2015). "Meredith Kopit Levien elevated to head of revenue at New York Times". Politico. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  9. ^ a b Smith, Gerry (21 February 2020). "New York Times Poised to Name Meredith Levien as Next CEO". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
  10. ^ Nathalie Tadena (17 April 2015). "New York Times Promotes Ad Chief Meredith Kopit Levien to Chief Revenue Officer". The Wall Street Journal.
    - Ravi Somaiya (17 April 2015). "New York Times Co. Elevates Meredith Kopit Levien to Chief Revenue Officer". The New York Times.
  11. ^ Steigrad, Alexandra (28 April 2016). "The New York Times Taps Ex-Pinterest Executive David Rubin as Head of Brand". Women's Wear Daily. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  12. ^ "The New York Times 'Truth' Campaign Drives Digital Subscriptions". Medium. 20 September 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  13. ^ Bruell, Alexandra (15 August 2018). "The Woman Behind the New York Times' High-Risk, High-Reward Business Strategy". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 9 September 2020. Through the Samsung deal and others with the likes of General Electric Co. and BMW AG, the 47-year-old executive is upending the Times century-old ad sales strategy, shifting away from one-off ad placements of the low-six-figure variety, in favor of more elaborate and lucrative deals that resemble corporate partnerships.
  14. ^ Lukas I. Alpert (7 June 2017). "New York Times Promotes Meredith Kopit Levien to Chief Operating Officer". The Wall Street Journal.
  15. ^ "NYT exec speaks out: 'We are not the opposition to the current administration'". ABC News. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  16. ^ "The New York Times' Meredith Levien: News is a relationship business". Digiday. 24 December 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  17. ^ "Trump's tariffs are hurting the already struggling newspaper industry". CBS News. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  18. ^ Lee, Edmund (22 July 2020). "The New York Times Co. Names Meredith Kopit Levien as Chief Executive". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  19. ^ "NYT promotes Kopit Levien to CEO role". Financial Post. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
    - Spangler, Todd (22 July 2020). "New York Times Appoints Meredith Kopit Levien CEO, Company's Youngest Chief Exec". Variety. Retrieved 8 September 2020.
  20. ^ "Meredith Kopit Levien". Aspen Global Leadership Network. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  21. ^ "The 50 most innovative CMOs in the world 2017 - The Rebels". Business Insider. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  22. ^ "50 Indispensable Media, Marketing and Tech Players and the Bold Moves They Made for Brands". Adweek. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
    - "The 2019 Publishing Hot List: The Print and Digital Media Brands Paving a Way to Profitability". Adweek. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  23. ^ Veazey, Kyle (16 February 2013). "Jason Levien followed roundabout path to Grizzlies' front office". The Commercial Appeal. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  24. ^ "Jason Levien". Neksepo Ventures. Retrieved 28 July 2021.

"Meredith Kopit Levien, and Sebastian Tomich, The New York Times Company: The 2020 Media Company". YouTube. IAB. 27 September 2016.

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