Arnaud de Puyfontaine
Arnaud de Puyfontaine is the Chief Executive of NatMag.
LONDON and NEW YORK, March 26, 2009 - Arnaud de Puyfontaine, 44, has been named Chief Executive Officer of the National Magazine Company (NatMag), today jointly announced Cathleen P. Black, President of Hearst Magazines and Duncan Edwards, President and CEO of Hearst Magazines International.
De Puyfontaine, former President of Group Mondadori France, takes over the NatMag CEO position from Edwards, who began his new role at Hearst Magazines International on February 1, 2009. De Puyfontaine will report to Edwards, who continues to serve as NatMag's Vice-Chairman, and will begin in his new role by mid-May. NatMag is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hearst Corporation.
"Arnaud is an excellent choice to succeed Duncan Edwards and I am pleased to have assisted my colleagues in recruiting him to one of our companies," said Frank A. Bennack, Jr., Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hearst Corporation, parent company of Hearst Magazines, and Chairman of the National Magazine Company. "He comes to NatMag with a wealth of experience, having run a large and complex magazine company, and is well-suited to continue to build our business in the UK. I am confident that both men will have much success in their new roles."
Duncan Edwards says: "I have enjoyed getting to know Arnaud over the past few months and I am delighted that he has agreed to become CEO of NatMag. We have an outstanding management group here and he is the perfect choice to lead this team. I am looking forward to working with him."
In September 2006, De Puyfontaine served as President of Mondadori France following the acquisition of Emap France, one of France's leading magazine publishers. Mondadori France has a portfolio of over 30 titles, many of which are leaders in their respective categories. Prior to the company's sale, de Puyfontaine was Chairman and CEO of the Emap France Group. He joined the company in 1995 and became CEO in 1998.
In July 2007, de Puyfontaine was named President of Group Mondadori France and CEO of the group digital operations. In July 2008 he became Special Advisor to the company's Vice-chairman and CEO. In October 2008, Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France, appointed de Puyfontaine as president of the "Economic Committee" for the Summit Conference on the Press Industry to deal with media business issues including distribution, printing, financing, advertising and new media.
From 1990 to 1995, de Puyfontaine served in various positions at Le Figaro and previously served as a project manager at Rhône-Poulenc Pharma in Indonesia and as a consultant at Arthur Andersen. He is a graduate of the ESCP, the Institut Multimédias and the AMP Harvard Business School.
Said Cathie Black, President, Hearst Magazines: "NatMag is an important part of our overall magazine portfolio and we are thrilled to have someone with Arnaud's expertise and knowledge assume the CEO role from Duncan, who has done a tremendous job over the years at building our business in the UK."
Commenting on his appointment, de Puyfontaine said, "The National Magazine Company is one that I have known and admired for a long time and I'm pleased to be joining as CEO. Both NatMag and Hearst are renowned for the quality of their editorial products and the professionalism of their business approach and I am looking forward to being part of that culture."
