• October 15, 2003

PRIMEDIA yesterday announced that it has filled a vacancy atop its corporate hierarchy, naming Kelly Conlin as president and chief executive officer. Conlin, who previously held the same post at International Data Group, replaces president and interim chief executive officer Charlie McCurdy, who will leave the company after a transition period. Conlin's prior experience also includes tenures at CNN (as chief assignment editor) and at The New York Times (as a reporter for the paper's business section and a strategic planning manager in the company's magazine group). "Our goal was to find a leader with experience in growing the top line organically and a proven track record of maximizing the potential of a broad portfolio of media assets," said Henry Kravis, a PRIMEDIA director, in a press release. "We are extremely fortunate to have found the perfect balance in Kelly. He is the ideal person to build on PRIMEDIA's core base of consumer and business-to-business properties and position the company for the next phase of its development and success." PRIMEDIA also announced that interim chairman Dean Nelson will assume the chairman role on a permanent basis.