• April 21, 2004

PRIMEDIA has divvied up its Enthusiast Automotive Group into two parts and hired industry veterans Steven Parr and John Rousseau to run them. Parr, formerly president and chief executive officer of illustrated book publisher Harry N. Abrams, will run the Performance Automotive Group. Rousseau, previously president and chief executive officer of IDG Entertainment, will head up the International Automotive Group. Craig Nickerson, president of the Enthusiast Automotive Group, has departed the company.

"By any measure, we have the strongest collection of enthusiast automotive magazines in the industry, covering cars, trucks and motorcycles and serving millions of passionate consumers in print, on the web, with events and on television," said PRIMEDIA president and chief executive officer Kelly Conlin in a press release. "Our decision to recruit Steve and John and to separate the division into two business units is evidence of our commitment to improve, expand and invest in the portfolio, serving our readers better with enhanced content, and building our business better by fully developing our brands through expanded licensing, marketing programs and multimedia delivery systems."