Zinio, LLC Names Scott Kauffman President and CEO
San Francisco, Calif. (June 15, 2004) - Zinio, LLC, worldwide leader in digital magazine production, distribution and circulation, today announced the appointment of Scott Kauffman as president and chief executive officer. Mr. Kauffman, 48, will be responsible for the strategic development and management of more than 120 digital magazines that Zinio distributes globally. Mr. Kauffman joins Zinio from MusicNow where he served as president and CEO. He succeeds Mike Edelhart who served as CEO for two years.
"Scott brings to Zinio an extensive background in executive management with subscription-based digital entertainment, consumer marketing, media and technology companies," said Mike Perlis, Zinio board chairman. "We are experiencing a revolution of the publishing industry and sought a product and media expert to join Zinio at this critical juncture in the company's development."
Since March 2002, Zinio has delivered more than 18 million digital magazines from 120 popular titles, such as BusinessWeek, Motor Trend, Seventeen, PC Magazine, Popular Science and U.S. News & World Report, to more than one and a half million customers in more than 200 countries. Zinio's 40 major publishing partners include Hearst, IDG, McGraw-Hill, Primedia, Reed Business Information, Technology Review Inc., U.S. News, VNU and Ziff Davis.
"Mike Edelhart played a key role in Zinio's early success, including establishing key partnerships with publishers like McGraw-Hill, U.S. News & World Report and Ziff Davis," added Perlis. "We appreciate his efforts with the growth of the company."
Mr. Kauffman's background includes senior positions with CompuServe and Time Warner, including five years as a member of the founding team of Entertainment Weekly magazine and vice president of business development for Time Warner Interactive. He also served as president and CEO of Coremetrics, the leading web services provider of marketing analytics solutions, where he continues to serve as chairman of the board.
"We are in the midst of an explosion of digitized content and intellectual property," said Scott Kauffman. "With its unique circulation, advertising and distribution capabilities, Zinio has defined a new model for the publishing industry. I am excited to be joining a company that is setting the agenda for the future of print in all its many forms."
Mr. Kauffman was recruited to Silicon Valley in 1997 by Kleiner Perkins to become president and CEO of AdKnowledge, a company focused on developing management solutions for Internet advertising.
Mr. Kauffman's early media career included five years at Newsweek where he was publisher of Newsweek on Campus and Newsweek on Health, and general manager of Newsweek's education division. Earlier in his career, he was a media planner for Benton & Bowles, a brand manager for Lever Brothers and a marketing manager for Playboy magazine.
Mr. Kauffman holds an AB in English from Vassar College and an MBA in marketing from New York University's Graduate School of Business. He was honored by Advertising Age in 1996 as one of twenty Digital Media Masters. In July of 1992, Advertising Age named him one of the top 100 marketers in the country.
