• by Sara Guaglione , August 8, 2016

Poppy MacDonald is leaving National Journal to become president of Politico. Kevin Turpin will replace her as president of National Journal, the Washington D.C.-based political magazine and a division of Atlantic Media.

MacDonald will head to Politico in September. She has worked there before, and played a key role in the launch of Politico Pro, the brand’s pricey premium news service, in 2010.

MacDonald stated the opportunity to return to Politico is “an exciting one, with the historic election and transition of government in 2017” right around the corner.

MacDonald was at National Journal for five years, joining shortly after the brand relaunched in October 2010. She was most recently president and publisher.

In a memo to staff, Atlantic Media president Michael Finnegan said MacDonald was instrumental in transforming National Journal “from a pure advertising and subscriptions media business into a comprehensive and differentiated membership and information services business.”

Turpin was previously senior vice president for strategy and operations to president of National Journal. He has been at the company for eleven years.

In the memo, Finnegan also praised Turpin’s leadership of National Journal’s new product development and research teams, where he oversaw many of the brand’s suite of products and services such as its newest offering, Network Science Initiative, which helps Washington organizations identify key stakeholders and influencers of policy issues.

Politico suffered a wave of executive departures in the last six months, triggered by co-founder and former CEO Jim VandeHei and other top executives’ exit in April. This year, the company lost its chief executive, chief operating officer, chief revenue officer and chief technology officer.

In July, Politicoannounced that Carrie Budoff Brown will become the next editor of the publication, replacing Susan Glasser after she moves to Jerusalem with her husband this November.