Adi Ignatius Leaving TIME

Deputy Managing Editor Adi Ignatius is leaving TIME magazine after 13 years, Managing Editor Rick Stengel announced Monday in a staff-wide e-mail.

In the e-mail, Stengel praised Ignatius for "his sharp story sense, his encyclopedic knowledge that spanned everything from international affairs to popular culture...and his decentness and good humor."

Stengel did not give details on what Ignatius will be doing next, writing simply that he is "moving on to other challenges." Washington Bureau Chief Jay Carney recently left the magazine to work in the office of Vice President Joe Biden.

Stengel's full e-mail below:

After 13 years at TIME, deputy managing editor Adi Ignatius is moving on to other challenges. Adi has been a wonderful presence at TIME, not only because of his sharp story sense, his encyclopedic knowledge that spanned everything from international affairs to popular culture, but because of his decentness and good humor. I'm not the first managing editor to realize that Adi always had the quickest wit at the morning meeting.

Adi joined TIME in 1996 in Hong Kong after more than a decade at the Wall Street Journal. He soon became the editor of Time Asia, which won a number of awards under his stewardship. In 2002, he came back to New York as Executive Editor, overseeing business and international coverage. As a deputy managing editor since 2006, he presided over future projects, special issues, as well as budgets and personnel - all with a deft touch. He's also written some signature TIME covers, including that of 2007 Person of the Year, Vladimir Putin -- despite the fact that Adi was the one who seemed most disappointed when Putin cut short our dinner. Adi has been a good friend to so many of us, and we will toast him before he goes, both to celebrate his career at TIME and to wish him well in his new endeavors.

Update: Ignatius has been named Editor in Chief of the Harvard Business Review. Full release below:

Harvard Business Review Names Adi Ignatius As Editor-in-Chief

BOSTON - JANUARY 6, 2009 - Adi Ignatius, the Deputy Managing Editor of TIME magazine, has been named Editor-in-Chief of Harvard Business Review (www.hbr.org). During his 12 years with TIME, Mr. Ignatius has covered business and international issues, served as Editor of TIME Asia, and most recently managed TIME's special editions, including the Person of the Year and TIME 100 franchises.

The announcement was made by David Wan, President and CEO of Harvard Business Publishing, which publishes Harvard Business Review.

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Mr. Ignatius will be based in Boston at the magazine's Watertown, Massachusetts main offices.

Before becoming Deputy Managing Editor, Mr. Ignatius served as Executive Editor of TIME and was responsible for the magazine's business and international coverage. Ignatius joined TIME as Deputy Editor of TIME Asia in 1996, based in Hong Kong, and was named Editor of that edition in 2000. Under his leadership, TIME Asia became an award-winning showcase for reporting, writing, photography and design. Throughout his career with TIME, Mr. Ignatius continued to write for the magazine; his most recent articles included a look inside Google Inc., and 2007's Person of the Year profile of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Mr. Wan said: "Adi is a first-rate journalist and a highly accomplished magazine editor whose management experience and international perspective make him ideally qualified to lead Harvard Business Review. His energy and leadership will be especially valuable as the magazine seeks to evolve and grow to meet the needs of its global readers and fulfill its mission to improve the practice of management."

Founded in 1922, Harvard Business Review is considered required reading for business and organizational leaders around the world. It is well-known for launching some of the most transformational and influential ideas in management, including disruptive innovation, avatar-based marketing, competing on analytics, blue ocean strategy, the five forces of competitive strategy, and the emotional intelligence of leaders.

Mr. Ignatius said: "I look forward to working with Harvard Business Review's staff and authors to build on the magazine's great editorial legacy and to create content that's newly relevant and accessible to today's global business audience. The need and appetite for practical management ideas is only growing, and for Harvard Business Review that means a great opportunity to reach both the current and next generation of business leaders and influence management practice around the world."

The magazine's website, hbr.org, will launch a redesign in the coming weeks, with enhancements including more article summaries that give readers key takeaways quickly, easier access to the magazine's digital archives of some 2,800 articles, and recommendations by Harvard Business Review editors. Other online offerings include the HBR Interactive Case, podcasts, the HBR Editors' Blog, and videocasts.

The magazine is also set to launch a tiered subscription offering, including an online-only offering with full access to the HBR digital article archives and additional features.

Prior to joining TIME, Ignatius worked for many years at the Wall Street Journal, serving as the newspaper's Bureau Chief in Beijing where his work was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, and later in Moscow. He later served as Managing Editor of the Central European Economic Review and Business Editor of the Far Eastern Economic Review, publications owned by Dow Jones, Inc.

Ignatius was awarded a Zuckerman Fellowship at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs in 1990 and speaks Russian and Chinese. He received his BA in History in 1981 from Haverford College in Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Asia Society and sits on the advisory board of the journalism school at SUNY Stony Brook.

In addition to the global edition of the print magazine, Harvard Business Review has 11 licensed editions, including editions in China, Taiwan, India, and Germany.

Comments

[EyesWideOpen]

I just cancelled my subscription.

Time used to be a serious magazine with in-depth research and intelligent writing. Now page after page is given over to fluff and brightly-colored lists with snazzy graphics but no real content. They fill the pages by making the photos and the fonts larger, leaving large areas of white space, adding cartoons, arrows, lines, red headlines, whatever, but skimp on the information.

When I called, I was asked if I wanted to opt out of the 'automatic renewal' program - I said yes - but when I signed up I was expressly told that it was not an automatic renewal.

No thanks - I no longer have any interest in wasting my time by reading 'Time'.

[Faxus]

There's not much in TIME these days, I suspect it is headed in the same direction as LIFE, good riddance.

[officewag]

It appears that Stengel himself is eager to leave Time and is reportedly angling for a job in the Obama admin. (A hoopster past is his "in", apparently. See the "Man of the Year" paen and pub letter, and also this blogpost
If he jumps ship, it would doubtlessly please remaining staffers, who condemn the Princeton-educated boomer Stengel as exploiting the TIME Magazine brand for self-promotion instead of news reporting and distillation. But this rag is less and less relevant. Good luck to Ignatius. Time is running out.

[shanghaislim]

Good Luck Adi,

You were one hell of a shortstop, buddy.

......and a damn fine editor!!!!

[magnetplanner]

It looks to me like a lot of people will be leaving. The magazine can't get any thinner.