Time Inc. today announced that Chris Stone has been named editorial director of the publisher’s mainstay sports title, Sports Illustrated.
Stone, who has served as SI managing editor since 2012, will now oversee all editorial content and operations for Time Inc.’s top three sports brands: the weekly Sports Illustrated magazine, monthly title Golf Magazine and Sports Illustrated Kids.
In a company statement released today, Time Inc. entertainment & sports group and video president Rich Battista said Stone “offers a fresh perspective, and the ambition to experiment and innovate at a time when we are transforming these iconic brands into true multimedia, multi-platform businesses.”
Stone joined SI as a fact-checker in 1992. According to Time, he eventually “oversaw virtually every major sports beat,” before being appointed managing editor in 2012, the ninth in that 61-year-old publication’s history.
Stone succeeds Sports Illustrated Group editor Paul Fichtenbaum, who has been with SI since 1989. Stone was promoted to Sports Illustrated managing editor in lieu of Fichtenbaum’s 2012 appointment to Sports Group editor.
Fichtenbaum announced his departure from Time Inc. yesterday, noting in a company statement that he “decided it was time to explore new challenges” and that “now is the perfect time to make the change.” No future career plans were mentioned.
Time Inc. said Fichtenbaum would vacate the position at the end of June.
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