DES MOINES, Iowa and
NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Meredith
Corporation (NYSE:MDP; www.meredith.com) – the leading
media and marketing company with local television brands in large,
fast-growing markets and national brands serving more than 100
million American women, announced today that its Board of Directors
has elected Tom Harty as President
and Chief Operating Officer, effective immediately.
In his new role, Harty, 53, will oversee Meredith's National and Local Media
Groups. Harty will continue to report to Meredith Chairman
and CEO Steve Lacy, allowing Lacy,
62, to focus more on long-term strategy, business expansion and
acquisition activities. Harty and his family will be
relocating to Des Moines.
The Board also elected Jon
Werther to succeed Harty as National Media Group
President. Werther, 47, currently serves as President of
Meredith Digital. He also has oversight of the Better Homes
and Gardens and Martha Stewart Living media brands.
"During his tenure at Meredith,
Tom has led initiatives to strengthen our media brands and grow
diversified revenue sources such as digital, brand licensing and
marketing services," said Lacy. "Working together with Local
Media Group President Paul Karpowicz
and Jon Werther, I'm confident Tom
can continue to grow Meredith's
position as one of America's leading media and marketing
companies."
Under Harty's leadership, Meredith has consistently increased its share
of advertising revenues against its competitive set. He
created the innovative Meredith Sales Guarantee, which proves that
advertising on Meredith's media
platforms directly leads to an increase of product sales at
retail. It has subsequently been adopted across the industry.
He also led an expansion of Meredith's digital initiatives – including the
acquisition of Allrecipes.com, the world's largest food site – and
spearheaded expansion of Meredith's high-margin brand licensing
business, which includes Better Homes and Gardens products at
Walmart and a partnership with Realogy to create the Better Homes
and Gardens Real Estate Network.
"I'm excited to lead the best team in the media and marketing
industry," Harty said. "Here at Meredith, we are well-known for a
collaborative culture that is highly effective in the marketplace.
With our tremendous brands, we are well-positioned to continue
expanding our connection to consumers and help clients who want to
reach them.
"I am particularly eager to work alongside Paul Karpowicz and our Local Media Group
leadership team," Harty continued. "Paul has done a
tremendous job building the best-run television station group in
the industry, and I look forward to working with him to
aggressively expand its footprint."
Harty joined Meredith in 2004
as Vice President of its Magazine Group and subsequently served as
its Chief Revenue Officer and President of Consumer
Magazines. He was named National Media Group President in
2010. Immediately prior to joining Meredith, Harty was Senior Vice President for
The Golf Digest Companies, a division of Advance Publications. His
broad experience includes senior leadership positions with several
of the industry's largest titles. Harty earned an MBA from
Iona College and a Bachelor's degree
from Castleton University. He currently serves as Treasurer and on
the Board of The Association of Magazine Media.
Werther joined Meredith in 2012
as Chief Strategy Officer and was promoted to President of Meredith
Digital in 2013. He has led a rapid expansion of Meredith
Digital, including the integration of Allrecipes.com and the
acquisition and integration of profitable businesses such as
Selectable Media, ShopNation and Qponix. He expanded his role
to include oversight of Meredith's
flagship Better Homes and Gardens brand, and then led the
integration of the Martha Stewart Living brand into the
Meredith portfolio.
After beginning his career as a transactional attorney, Werther
spent more than 10 years in positions of increasing scale and
responsibility at Time Warner and its AOL division. Werther earned
an MBA from The Wharton School of Business at
the University of Pennsylvania; a law degree from George
Washington University; and a Bachelor's
degree from Emory University.
"We've put together a great team in our National Media Group
under Tom Harty's leadership, and I
am looking forward to building upon our success," said
Werther. "With our content creation capabilities, innovative
sales programs, proprietary technology platforms and consumer
products, Meredith is uniquely
positioned to serve consumers across channels and devices and to
help marketers effectively reach and engage with a highly desirable
audience of more than 100 million American women."
ABOUT MEREDITH
CORPORATION
Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP; www.meredith.com) has
been committed to service journalism for 115 years. Today,
Meredith uses multiple
distribution platforms – including broadcast television, print,
digital, mobile and video – to provide consumers with content they
desire and to deliver the messages of its advertising and marketing
partners.
Meredith's National Media Group
reaches more than 100 million unduplicated women every month,
including nearly 75 percent of U.S. Millennial women. Meredith is the leader in creating and
distributing content across platforms in key consumer interest
areas such as food, home, parenting and health through well-known
brands such as Better Homes and Gardens, Allrecipes, Parents and
Shape. Meredith also
features robust brand licensing activities, including more than
3,000 SKUs of branded products at 4,000 Walmart stores across the
U.S. Meredith Xcelerated Marketing is an award-winning, strategic
and creative agency that provides fully integrated marketing
solutions for many of the world's top brands, including Kraft,
Lowe's, TGI Friday's and NBC Universal.
Meredith's Local Media Group
includes 17 owned or operated television stations reaching 11
percent of U.S. households. Meredith's portfolio is concentrated in large,
fast-growing markets, with seven stations in the nation's Top 25 –
including Atlanta, Phoenix, St.
Louis and Portland – and 13
in Top 50 markets. Meredith's
stations produce over 660 hours of local news and entertainment
content each week, and operate leading local digital
destinations.
Meredith's balanced portfolio
consistently generates substantial free cash flow, and the Company
is committed to growing Total Shareholder Return through dividend
payments, share repurchases and strategic business
investments. Meredith's
current annualized dividend of $1.98
per share yields approximately 4 percent. Meredith has paid a dividend for 69 straight
years and increased it for 23 consecutive years.
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SOURCE Meredith Corporation