Katie Vanneck-Smith has been appointed Chief Executive Officer at Hearst UK. The announcement was made by Hearst President and CEO Steven R. Swartz, Hearst Magazines President Debi Chirichella and Hearst Magazines International President Jonathan Wright, to whom Vanneck-Smith will report. Vanneck-Smith succeeds Simon Horne, who has been with Hearst Magazines International for more than 20 years, most recently as interim CEO of Hearst UK. Previously, he was senior vice president and managing director of the company’s Asia Pacific and Russia businesses.

Vanneck-Smith joins Hearst from Tortoise Media, a global media outlet that she co-founded in 2018. Prior to that, she was the president and chief customer officer of Dow Jones, where she helped build and lead The Wall Street Journal’s successful online membership-based business. Vanneck-Smith previously worked for Telegraph Media Group and The Times, where she served as chief marketing officer and led the architecture of the newspaper's early move to paid digital subscriptions. She is responsible for creating the UK's first news membership brand, Times+.

“I am thrilled to join Hearst Magazines to lead their portfolio of brilliant brands in the UK, many of which I have enjoyed for my whole life,” Vanneck-Smith said. “These are brands that people care about. Their heritage and heart means there is enormous potential for growth and I can't wait to work with the team to develop new ways to deepen those valuable brand relationships, and to surprise and delight customers, clients and the industry."