Cathleen Black, considered “The First Lady of American Magazines” and “one of the leading figures in American publishing over the past two decades” by the Financial Times, is chairman of Hearst Magazines, a division of Hearst Corporation and one of the world’s largest publishers of monthly magazines. For more than 15 years, first as president and now as chairman, Black has managed the financial performance and development of 14 of the industry’s best-known titles, including Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, O: The Oprah Magazine, Popular Mechanics, Redbook and Town & Country. She also oversees nearly 200 international editions of those magazines in more than 100 countries.

Having begun her career in advertising sales, Black made publishing history in 1979 when she became the first woman publisher of the weekly consumer magazine New York. She is widely credited for the success of USA Today, where for eight years starting in 1983, she was first president, then publisher, as well as a board member and executive vice president/marketing of Gannett, its parent company. In 1991 she became president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America, the industry’s largest trade group, where she served for five years before joining Hearst.

Black is the author of the best seller “BASIC BLACK: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life).” She serves as a member of numerous boards, including IBM and The Coca-Cola Company. She is an “all-star” on Fortune magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” list and has been included on Forbes magazine’s list of “The 100 Most Powerful Women” and Crain’s list of New York City’s “100 Most Influential Women in Business.”

Updated: July 13, 2012