PUBLISHING EXECUTIVE JOHN GRIFFIN TO LEAD NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE GROUP

WASHINGTON—John Griffin will succeed Robert Sims as president of magazine publishing and executive vice president of the National Geographic Society, John Fahey, Society president, has announced. Sims is retiring in December 2001.

Griffin, 52, is currently executive vice president and COO of Hearst Magazines International in New York. He will join National Geographic on Sept. 4, 2001, and will work with Sims until the end of the year to ensure a smooth transition.

Griffin will have financial responsibility for the English-language editions of the Society’s four magazines: National Geographic, National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic Traveler and National Geographic World. He also will be responsible for the editorial content of Adventure, Traveler and World.

The Society’s magazines have a total readership of more than 58 million worldwide, which includes readers of 20 local-language editions of National Geographic magazine.

“We are delighted to have a media professional of John Griffin’s stature at the helm of our four magazines,” said Fahey. “He brings a wealth of experience in the publishing field, and I am confident he will continue the outstanding work of Bob Sims in building our brand and mission and making our publications award-winning market leaders.”

Griffin, a keen outdoorsman, said he was thrilled to be associated with an organization involved in exploration, education and expanding the limits of human knowledge. “I believe in the power of the National Geographic brand, the Society’s century-old mission, the integrity of the organization and the unrivaled quality of its magazines,” he said.

“John Griffin is a quality guy I’ve known for a long time, and we are very fortunate he is joining the Society,” said Sims. “I am enormously pleased that we will have a professional with a proven track record to continue the work of our magazine group.”

Before joining Hearst Magazines International, Griffin was president of the magazine division at Rodale Press, Emmaus, Pa., from 1990 to 2000, and chairman, president and publisher of PC World in San Francisco from 1987 to 1990. He was vice president, circulation director, of Rodale Press from 1979 to 1987.

Griffin holds a bachelor’s degree in American studies from Wesleyan University and is an avid runner, hiker, mountain biker and scuba diver.

During Sims’s 14-year tenure at the Society, he established the Magazine Group, bringing together all business aspects of the four publications in the English language; oversaw an increase of 61 percent in advertising pages in National Geographic magazine; launched Adventure in 1999; revitalized the editorial content of Traveler and World, and created a public awareness campaign to bring geography education back to American classrooms.

Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. It reaches nearly 200 million people each month through its four magazines, the National Geographic Channel, books, videos, maps and interactive media. The Society has funded more than 7,000 scientific research projects and supports an education program combating geographic illiteracy.

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