Condé Nast has appointed Adam Baidawi to be Global Editorial Director of GQ, effective immediately.
After being Deputy Global Editorial Director of the brand and Head of Editorial Content at British GQ since 2021, Baidawi will now oversee all 12 global editions as well as Pitchfork, led by editor Mano Sundaresan.
“It is the honour of my life to lead GQ into a new era, and to build on the legacy of the great editors I grew up admiring. GQ has remarkable power to define the conversations around style, culture and masculinity,” Baidawi said in a Tuesday statement. “I look forward to using that power in new and surprising ways. I’m grateful to Anna and to our global teams for their trust. We have ambitious work ahead.”
His promotion comes a month after predecessor Will Welch left the role to take a job with Pharrell Williams after serving as Global Editorial Director since 2020.
“Adam makes perfect sense to lead GQ because he’s a writer and journalist first – a cultural thinker at a time when the culture needs to be thought through, and even interrogated a little. Having worked all over the world, he has a global sensibility, plenty of wit and style, and an easy collegiality with the editors he works with,” Condé Nast Chief Content Officer Anna Wintour added. “This is someone GQ’s readers can expect to challenge received wisdom — about modern masculinity and the worlds of celebrity, sport, and fashion — and have a lot of fun doing so.”
Baidawi began his GQ career with a byline in the Australian edition more than 15 years ago, eventually serving as editor-in-chief of GQ Middle East from 2018 to 2021. He was also once a correspondent for The New York Times in Australia.
His first print issue has been set for September.
