Brendan Ripp, former vice president of Advertising Sales at Fortune, is the new publisher of Sports Illustrated/SI.com.
Prior to his Fortune tenure, Ripp, 37, was the Publisher of Money (December 2010 to October 2012). Before that, he was Publisher of Time, Time.com and Life.com (May 2010 to October 2012).
Ripp was actually an undergraduate intern at Sports Illustrated in 1996. Now that he’s back, Ripp will report to Mark Ford, Time Inc. executive vice president/Sports Group president, with whom he worked with in his previous Time and Fortune roles.
Also read: NBC and Time Inc. Team Up for ‘Sports Illustrated’ Swimsuit Issue Special
Sports Illustrated has seen gains in newsstand sales for the first time in four years; growth in website and mobile audience and revenue, and the launch of new editorial products, including several video initiatives and The MMQB (Monday Morning Quarterback) franchise. A relaunch of SI.com and the 50th Anniversary edition of Swimsuit edition are upcoming.
At Fortune, Ripp led revenue growth and the continued expansion of Fortune’s robust conference business. Last year’s Fortune 500 issue was the biggest issue since 2008 and had the best ad performance since 2004.
At Time, Ripp was responsible for growing Time’s business across new media platforms. He actually began his Time Inc. career in 2000 as a junior sales representative before becoming the publication’s youngest publisher (at age 33) since its founding editor, Henry Luce.