On Tuesday September 17th, TIME named Nancy Gibbs its new managing editor, as The New York Times reports. Gibbs is the first woman to be given this position in the magazine’s 90-year history. Can we all just revel in this glory, with a big YAY FOR LADIES IN PRINT MEDIA!
Gibbs started as a TIME fact-checker 28 years ago, and over the course of working for the mag, she’s written more cover stories (ahem, 174 to be exact) than any other writer in TIME history. She’s covered politics, parenting, and even wrote the 9,500 word cover story about September 11th, which was amazingly released 28 hours after the tragic event.
Gibbs will be succeeding Richard Stengel, who’s held the position for seven years. He’ll be leaving to serve as the secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs at the State Department.
They may be big shoes to fill, but Gibbs is already stepping up to quite the workload. As recently as August 5th, Gibbs began overseeing TIME’s covers. It was also reported that Gibbs oversaw the hiring of two-dozen reporters and interactive developers that will help expand the magazine’s “digital footprint.” TIME says that the magazine now reaches 50 million people across digital and print platforms and, as NYT reports, the magazine’s Twitter account has a whopping 4.9 million followers.
But as a Yale graduate, an Oxford University Marshall Scholar, and a two-time Ferris Professor at Princeton, I think Gibbs can pretty much handle anything.
Nancy Gibbs and Martha Nelson, TIME’s newest editor in chief
This isn’t TIME’s first big change, though. In January of this year, Time Inc. named Martha Nelson editor in chief of its magazine division. Nelson is also making waves by being the first woman to hold that job as well. Bless you TIME for moving in the right direction!
Check out the video below to see what the new managing editor will be bringing to the TIME table!
Thanks to the New York Times and TIME Magazine
Video via TIME
