FINANCIAL PRO TAKES TIME INC. HELM

Time Warner has named Joe Ripp, a financial executive, as CEO of Time Inc., which is being spun off from the media combine.

He will take charge of the parent of Time, Sports Illustrated, Fortune, People, InStyle and Real Simple in September.

The one-time Time Inc. treasurer succeeds Laura Lang, who opted to depart on news of the corporate split-up.

Ripp is leaving the helm of OneSource Information Services, a business and information services company.

His career includes stints at Time Warner (CFO), America Online (vice chairman), Dendrite International (COO), and Journal Register Co. (chairman).

Jeff Bewkes, CEO of Time Warner, called Ripp a “seasoned executive who has been immersed in the intersection of digital, advertising and publishing for the past decade.”

He “also happens o have a thorough understanding of Time Inc.’s business,” said a statement from Bewkes.
 

WORLD LEADERS HOOKED ON TWITTER

More than three-quarters of world leaders have a Twitter account and two-thirds of them are connected to their leadership peers, according to the “twiplomacy” poll from Burson-Marsteller.

The WPP unit looked at the government accounts in 153 countries.

Barack Obama is the most followed leader with more than 33M followers. That following includes about a third of government leaders. [The most leader connected official—with 44—is Sweden’s Carl Bildt.]

Pope Francis has the second biggest following with more than 7M Twitter users.  His Spanish language tweets are the most re-tweeted, making him the “most influential leader on Twitter,” according to B-M.

The Pope tweets are re-tweeted an average of 11K-plus times. That compares to an average 2,309 re-tweets for Obama’s musings.

Jeremy Galbraith, CEO of B-M Europe, Middle East and Africa, said the twiplomacy report “illustrates how Twitter and social media in general have become part and parcel of any integrated government communications.”


NYT UPS PURDY, LACEY

The New York Times has promoted Matt Purdy to assistant managing editor and Marc Lacey to the associate managing editor slot.

Purdy, investigations editor, will have new duties that  “span across all desks and sections,” according to a memo from executive editor Jill Abramson.

His job is to focus on the NYT’s priority of pushing “stories behind the story, exclusive investigative pieces and long-term enterprise projects.”

He joined the paper ten years ago from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Lacey takes charge of the weekend report, succeeding Alison Mitchell, who was promoted to national editor.

Earlier, Lacey was White House correspondent, and NYT reporter in Kenya, Mexico and Iraq.