Sylvia Auton, the chair and chief executive of Marie Claire publisher IPC Media, is to retire after 36 years with the company. Auton, 63, has been chief executive of the UK's largest magazine company – publisher of titles including Ideal Home, Woman's Own, InStyle and Now – since 2003. She moved to the US to take the role of executive vice president at parent publishing company Time Inc in 2007, retaining the role of chair at IPC, but returned to the UK four years later to resume the chief executive role.