Semafor appoints Pattni head of global communications

The following excerpt sent out by Semafor founder and CEO Justin Smith reads:

I am pleased to share with you that Meera Pattni has been appointed as Head of Global Communications for Semafor.

In this position, Pattni will lead the company’s global communications strategy from inception, serving as a key member of Semafor’s founding leadership team and working closely with Founder & CEO Justin Smith and Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith as they assemble a world-class suite of talent in the run up to launching this fall.

Pattni previously served as Condé Nast’s Senior Vice President of Communications where she oversaw the company’s communications strategy for its over 30 brands including Vogue and GQ in over 30 markets across Europe, APAC and Latin America. During her tenure, Pattni led communications for the company’s first major global transformation in its 100-year history which unified its content teams and myriad international businesses through a new global editorial strategy.

Prior, Pattni spent nearly a decade at VICE Media Group where she oversaw North America communications for the company’s key businesses and portfolio of brands including its News, Digital and Television divisions as Vice President, Communications. Under her stewardship, she led the company to 69 Emmy® nominations and 17 wins, overseeing key partnerships with HBO, Hulu and Showtime and played a seminal role in launching the award-winning VICE News brand internationally.

She holds a master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism from City University, London and a bachelors of arts in English Literature from the University of Sheffield.

On joining, Pattni said: “The news landscape should be continually evolving if we are serving our audiences correctly and that means we need more leaders who are willing to bet big on finding new models for our industry. I’m proud to be joining a team that’s passionate about embracing change during this critical moment for media and society at-large and to have the opportunity to build a world-class news offering from scratch with some of the most creative minds in our business.”

Pattni will be based in New York and report to Justin Smith, Founder & CEO, Semafor. She starts later this month.

You can congratulate Pattni on Twitter.