NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - June 3, 2010) - Hearst Corporation and Condé Nast today announced that Jay Felts has been named president of Comag Marketing Group (CMG), a newsstand distribution and marketing company and a joint venture of the two companies. The announcement, effective immediately, was made by John Loughlin, executive vice president and general manager, Hearst Magazines, and Robert A. Sauerberg, Jr., group president, Condé Nast Consumer Marketing, both members of the CMG board.
Felts, a 28-year veteran of the publishing distribution industry, has been senior vice president, retail sales & logistics of CMG since 2001. In that role, he led CMG's North American sales and marketing team and category management team, while managing key business relationships throughout the wholesale and retail supply chain. During his tenure, Felts has taken leadership positions in representing the magazine industry to the retail trade, positioning CMG as a "solutions provider" while promoting the overall category. Under his sales leadership, CMG has also spearheaded a number of magazine launches on behalf of its clients, orchestrating the retail dynamics critical to ensuring a seamless and successful introduction to the marketplace.
"We are confident Jay will build on CMG's successes through strategic innovation and by identifying new, more efficient methods of delivering magazines to the readers who love them," Sauerberg said.
"Jay has done an exceptional job cultivating and strengthening relationships within the wholesale and retail communities and has played an important part in establishing CMG as an industry leader, as well as promoting the category overall," Loughlin said. "In this new position, he will serve as an even more essential advocate for the industry."
"Most recently, our goals have included driving efficient sales growth by enhancing our consumer analytic capabilities and leveraging data to enable smarter decision-making throughout the supply chain," Felts said. "I look forward to continuing these strategies, further leveraging the investments we've made in our infrastructure and positioning CMG as a comprehensive consumer marketing company."
Felts joined the Hearst Distribution Group as vice president, retail sales in 1999. Prior to that, he was senior vice president of The News Group, with responsibility for all national chain marketing activities, amounting for more than $700 million in annual sales. He has also held leadership positions at Simon & Schuster, The New York Times Company and Time Warner Retail.
Comag Marketing Group LLC, a jointly owned company of Condé Nast and Hearst Corporation, provides publishers of many of the world's leading magazine brands with comprehensive sales, marketing and promotional services through a network of domestic and overseas wholesaler distributors and retail sales venues, including mass market and specialty channels.
About Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation (www.hearst.com) is one of the nation's largest diversified media companies. Its major interests include ownership of 15 daily and 38 weekly newspapers, including the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union; nearly 200 magazines around the world, including Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan and O, The Oprah Magazine; 29 television stations, which reach a combined 18% of U.S. viewers; ownership in leading cable networks, including Lifetime, A&E, History and ESPN; as well as business publishing, including a minority joint venture interest in Fitch Ratings; Internet businesses, television production, newspaper features distribution and real estate.
About Condé Nast
Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications, operates in twenty-five countries. In the United States, Condé Nast publishes eighteen consumer magazines, two trade publications and twenty-seven websites that garner international acclaim and unparalleled consumer engagement.
Contact Information:
Contact:
Andrea Faville
Hearst Corporation
212-649-2165
afaville@hearst.com
Mistrella Murphy
Condé Nast
212-286-2606
mistrella_murphy@condenast.com