OLD Media Moves

How Fortune’s new EIC is raising awareness of female executives

Alyson Shontell

Lori Chung and Leisha Majtan of NY1 profile Fortune editor in chief Alyson Shontell, who is the first woman to hold the spot and has been expanding its coverage of female executives.

Chung and Majtan write, “Shontell looks at her role as serving two purposes: leading the Fortune team as media continues to evolve, while celebrating, elevating, and educating women in another field dominated by men, business.

“‘When you look at the list of top billionaires in the world, you equate money to power,’ she said. ‘Most of them are men. Most of them started their own companies. So if you don’t give people role models to look at that aren’t Elon Musk or Bill Gates then you’re never going to change that power gap that exists in the world. I think that’s a really important piece. How are we going to get a woman Elon Musk or Bill Gates? We have to get more women interested in business.’

“Shontell hopes the latest issue does just that by featuring venture capitalist Katie Haun and her efforts to build a one-billion-dollar crypto-currency firm.

“Shontell, a 35-year-old mom of two, credits her own mother with being a strong female role model.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

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