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Mitchell B. Fox

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Mitchell B. Fox is an American businessman. He was the Group President and Publishing Director of Condé Nast Publications, the President and CEO of The Golf Digest Companies, and publisher of Vanity Fair and Details magazines. Fox was the Vice President and Publisher of Vanity Fair during its rise in the 1990s. As Group President, his responsibilities included overseeing Condé Nast's golf properties, its Fairchild fashion group including W magazine and Women's Wear Daily, its Bridal group, and other magazines, including Self, Allure, Bon Appetit, and Condé Nast Traveler.

Early career

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Fox joined Condé Nast in 1989 when he became publisher of Details.[1] While Fox was publisher, Details was awarded "Magazine of the Year" (1994) by AdAge, and twice earned top ten honors (1993 and 1994) on AdWeek magazine's "Hot List".[2][3] He received criticism from The Baltimore Sun and The Philadelphia Inquirer, who stated the ads in Details were "racy" and "raunchy",[4][5] to which he replied "It's completely consistent with the value system our readers have."[5] The New York Times called Fox's leadership at Details "one of Conde Nast's big success stories" with 41% increase in circulation in 1993.[6]

Vanity Fair

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In 1994, Fox was appointed publisher of Vanity Fair.[7][8][9] In 1996 Fox was named Condé Nast Publisher of the Year[10][11] with a record number of ad pages, totaling 1,523 in 1996. Fox's leadership at Vanity Fair went on to break more records with 1,809 ad pages in 1997,[12] and again with 1,882 ad pages in 1998,[10][13] including fashion ads up 14% and beauty ads up 19%.[14] According to Advertising Age, since Fox's arrival at Vanity Fair from Details in 1994, ad sales at Vanity Fair had risen by a "staggering 69%” by 1998.[13] During his time as publisher of Vanity Fair, the magazine began its annual Academy Awards party.[15][16]

Condé Nast

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In 1997, Fox was appointed vice-president of Condé Nast in charge of Corporate Sales. In November 1999, he was promoted to senior vice president of corporate sales.[12][17] In 2001, Fox was named president and CEO of The Golf Digest Company, Advance Publications' titles Golf Digest, Golf for Women, Golf World, Golf World Business, and GolfDigest.com upon acquisition of these titles from The New York Times Company.[18][19][20] In January 2007, Fox took over most of Mary Berner's responsibilities upon her departure from Condé Nast, adding W, WWD, DNR, FootWear News, The Condé Nast Bridal Group, and Bon Appétit to his existing responsibilities.[21][22] Fox became group president of Condé Nast in 2007[23][24][25] and was named one of the leaders of the magazine world by AdAge.[26]

Departure from Condé Nast

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In early January 2008, Fox was terminated by Condé Nast. The New York Times reported his departure as sudden "high-level shake-up" among management at Condé Nast, in which his multi-media, multi-platform strategy conflicted with existing plans for the company, leading to his ouster.[23] The Post described this event, which coincided with the ousting of Lucky magazine's publisher, as "a bloodbath at Condé Nast".[27] Some media reports suggest the death of a longtime ally may explain his sudden departure from the company,[27] and tabloids suggest motives of a rival,[28] but many media sources do not provide information on the reason for his departure.[29] The email he sent upon departure and the company's memo were leaked to BusinessWeek.[30]

From Conde Nast, Fox became president/CEO of 8020 Media Company,[31][32][33][34] a San Francisco web based media company that manages two online communities and magazines. 8020 Media was sold to a group of investors in 2010.[35][36][37]

Fox was a national trustee of The First Tee,[38][39] a charitable organization, and is a member of the Esteemed Council of Advisors for the Telluride Film Festival. Fox also represented his company as a member of the board of directors of the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA), and was a member of its executive committee.[40]

History

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Fox graduated from the State University of Stony Brook in 1977. He began his career at The New York Times where he worked for seven years, ultimately as Group Manager, Retail Advertising.[41] In 1984, Fox left The New York Times to join Bergdorf Goodman as the advertising director. He was later promoted to senior vice president of sales promotion at Bergdorf Goodman.[11]

Currently

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Fox lives in New York City and has created a holding company (WGA Global Marketing, Inc.) with multiple businesses. He sits on the board of advisors of both the College of Business and the School of Journalism at Stony Brook University.[42] Fox has also been a distinguished speaker at Stanford Business School and Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.[43] He served for two years at Pitney Bowes as the Executive Business Development Strategist in their global ecommerce division working with retailers and online merchants to grow their business globally. Fox has also become involved in MyGrove as senior advisor, a media company that targets active adult communities.[44][45]

Fox was recruited to serve on the board of advisors of Viridian Capital Advisors, the leading investment bank in the cannabis industry.[46] In 2016, he was recruited to be on the board of directors of Civilized.Life, a Los Angeles/Canada-based media company focused on the cannabis industry.[47][48]

References

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  1. ^ "Mitchell Fox named president at Vanity Fair". Women’s Wear Daily. Vol. 167, no. 111. June 9, 1994. p. 2. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016.
  2. ^ Adweek Staff (March 20, 2009). "Magazine Hot List 1993". AdAge (Advertising Age).
  3. ^ Garland, Eric (March 20, 2009). "Magazine Hot List 1993: Highlights". AdAge (Advertising Age).
  4. ^ Campbell, Roy H. (September 13, 1992). "Smutty Ads: A Turn-on For Sales?". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on December 4, 2013.
  5. ^ a b Campbell, Roy H. (September 24, 1992). "Rag mags get raunchier". The Baltimore Sun.
  6. ^ Carmody, Deirdre (June 9, 1994). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Details and Vanity Fair Getting New Publishers". The New York Times.
  7. ^ Kelly, Keith J. (June 13, 1994). "Mitchell Fox CONDE NAST SHAKE-UP IS SIGN OF THE TIMES". AdAge (Advertising Age).
  8. ^ "Mitchell Fox Named Publisher at Vanity Fair". Women’s Wear Daily. June 9, 1994.
  9. ^ Kuczynski, Alex (March 15, 1999). "Vanity Fair's Star Quality; Editor Celebrates Hollywood and Advertisers Applaud". The New York Times.
  10. ^ a b Ennis, Teresa (April 1999). "MITCHELL FOX". Folio. Archived from the original on 2015-02-12.
  11. ^ a b Ennis, Teresa (April 15, 1999). "Mitchell Fox". Folio.
  12. ^ a b Jones, Oliver (November 1, 1999). "Fox upped at Conde Nast". Variety.
  13. ^ a b Case, Tony (March 8, 1999). "'VANITY FAIR' SHINING STAR IN CONDE NAST'S GALAXY - BEST MAGAZINE: MONICA SPREAD JUST THE TIP OF A STUNNINGLY STRONG YEAR". AdAge (Advertising Age).
  14. ^ "Fragrance Sales Getting Weak". Harvest Ads Depot. 1998.
  15. ^ Sweet, David (May 27, 2002). "Golf Digest shooting for A-list at Open party". Sports Business Journal.
  16. ^ Kuczynski, Alex (March 15, 1999). "Star Quality: Vanity Fair's Hollywood Celebration". The New York Times.
  17. ^ Collins, Glen (August 17, 2000). "PUBLIC LIVES; Mr. Everything at the Conde Nast Cafeteria". The New York Times.
  18. ^ Kelly, Keith J. (January 27, 2006). "CONDÉ PAST BACK AGAIN – EX-BERNER BOYS RETURN TO FOLD". New York Post.
  19. ^ Granatstein, Lisa (February 12, 2001). "Mitchell Fox named president/CEO at Advance Publications Inc". Mediaweek. Archived from the original on July 30, 2017.
  20. ^ Elliot, Stuart (September 14, 2005). "In Shifting Ad Environment, Rival Publishers Cooperate". The New York Times.
  21. ^ Perl, Maurie (January 4, 2006). "Conde Nast Reorganizes Following Mary Berner's Resignation". Business Wire.
  22. ^ Alam Khan, Mickey (January 5, 2006). "Top Fairchild Executive Quits Conde Nast". Direct Marketing News.
  23. ^ a b Pérez-Peña, Richard (2008-01-08). "High-Level Shake-Up at Condé Nast". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-02-06.
  24. ^ "Big Changes At Conde Nast As Group President And Lucky Publisher Ousted". Huffington Post. May 25, 2011 [March 28, 2008].
  25. ^ "Conde Nast Reorganizes Following Mary Berner's Resignation". Business Wire. January 4, 2006.
  26. ^ Ives, Nat (June 4, 2007). "Meet the Future Leaders of the Magazine World". AdAge (Advertising Age).
  27. ^ a b Kelly, Keith J. (January 7, 2008). "Bloodbath at Conde Nast". New York Post.
  28. ^ Denton, Nick (January 7, 2008). "New Year's massacre at Conde Nast". Gawker.
  29. ^ Ives, Nat. "Fox Out at Conde Nast". AdAge (Advertising Age). Retrieved January 7, 2008.
  30. ^ Fine, Jon (January 7, 2008). "Mitch Fox, Lucky Publisher Sandy Golinkin Out At Conde Nast". Businessweek. Archived from the original on January 10, 2008.
  31. ^ "The Mr. Magazine™ Interview: Mitchell Fox, President and CEO of 8020 Media". Mr Magazine. October 5, 2008.
  32. ^ "min magazine 2008 Most Intriguing: Mitchell Fox". Min Magazine. November 7, 2008.
  33. ^ Kelly, Keith J. (March 19, 2008). "CURTAINS FOR EX-CONDE FOX' CIRCUS ACT". New York Post.
  34. ^ "Former Condé Nast Exec Mitch Fox to Head 8020 Publishing". CMG News. March 19, 2008.
  35. ^ Arrington, Michael (Jan 3, 2009). "Don't Count JPG Magazine Out Just Yet, Sale May Close Next Week". Tech Crunch.
  36. ^ "New Life at JPG and 8020 Media". Mr Magazine. 2009-03-01. Retrieved 2013-02-06.
  37. ^ "8020 est Morte! Vive le 8020!". Crowdsourcing: Why the Power of the Crowd is Driving the Future of Business. March 2, 2009.
  38. ^ "The First Tee & RBS Select Scholarship Finalists". Cybergolf.
  39. ^ "RBS mentor Sonya Mendez of The First Tee of Bridgeport receives special award". The First Tee of Metropolitan New York Public News.
  40. ^ "Memo Pad: More Changes... Six Degrees of Separation..." Women’s Wear Daily. January 15, 2008.
  41. ^ "Katherine Maurer, Teacher, Bride of Mitchell Brian Fox". The New York Times. June 22, 1981.
  42. ^ "Former Condé Nast publisher joins advisory board". Stony Brook University School of Journalism.
  43. ^ VLAB. "The Rise of Crowdsourcing: Creative Wisdom of the Crowd". MIT Enterprise Forum: Bay Area.
  44. ^ "Mitchell Fox's involvement in venture capital". Who Got Funded.
  45. ^ Dale, Brady. "MyGrove's social publishing venture // Ringly soft launches [Startup Roundup]". Technical.ly, Nov. 6, 2013 8:15 am.
  46. ^ "Advisory Board". Viridian Capital.
  47. ^ "Cannabis Media Company Civilized Adds Three Key Executive On Heels Of Launch". All Access.
  48. ^ "Fifteen Minutes helps cannabis culture site get higher profile". PR Week.
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