• by Sara Guaglione , March 14, 2016

Bob Cohn has been named president of The Atlantic as James Bennet, his co-president, leaves the position solely in the hands of Cohn to move back to The New York Times.

Cohn and Bennet were named co-presidents of The Atlantic in March 2014, after Scott Havens left the company to become senior vice president of digital for Time Inc. At the time, Bennet was editor-in-chief and Cohn was digital editor. Cohn also served as COO.

Bennet has been editor-in-chief for a decade. He and Cohn will lead the search for a new EIC.

Bennet joined The Atlantic from The New York Times, where he was Jerusalem bureau chief and White House correspondent. Now, he will return to the company for “one of the top two editorial positions,” Atlantic Media chairman David Bradley said in a memo to staff today.

Bennet will be editorial page editor and also will serve on the NYT's executive committee.

In a statement today, Cohn said that under Bennet’s leadership, The Atlantic has “reinvented itself for the modern media age,”

“He safeguarded the future of our 159-year-old magazine by insisting we express its mission and heritage in the most contemporary ways, on any and (almost) all platforms that our audiences use,” he stated.

“To me personally, he’s been partner and friend on a fantastic journey, and I will sorely miss working with him,” Cohn added.

According to a statement from the company, Cohn’s plans going forward with The Atlantic is to continue “bringing new ideas and innovative technologies to both our journalism and our marketing platforms.”

The Atlantic also increased its staff by 50% in 2015; it has similar hiring plans this year. As part of its multiplatform expansion of Washington politics and policy coverage, The Atlantic is tripling its Washington reporting team and growing its events and business staffs.

Bennet leaves The Atlantic at a peak year of investment and growth. Last month, the brand was named Magazine of the Year in the 2016 National Magazine Awards for Print and Digital Media. The Atlantic now reaches an average monthly audience of 27 million and revenues have grown by 50%, across two years.

Just last Monday, Publishers Daily reported Michael Finnegan was promoted to president of Atlantic Media.