Dow Jones & Co. chief executive officer William Lewis sent out the following announcement on Monday evening:
Dear Colleague,
Katie Vanneck-Smith has decided to step down as President and Chief Customer Officer of Dow Jones.
Katie, who has served Dow Jones with distinction in helping to drive our membership strategy, is relocating back to London to pursue new opportunities outside of News Corp.
Katie joined Dow Jones as Global Managing Director and Chief Customer Officer in June 2014, having previously been Chief Marketing Officer for News UK. She became President of Dow Jones in early 2017.
She said: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Dow Jones and will miss working with so many wonderful colleagues. It’s been a privilege to see this great company grow into a membership-based business focused on its customers.”
Following Katie’s departure, Nancy McNeill, who oversees sales and advertising, will now report directly to me. I have asked Anna Sedgley, our Chief Operations Officer, to work closely with Nancy and her leadership team over the next few weeks to ensure we are maximizing advertising revenues for the remainder of this financial year and into FY19.
I am delighted to add that Suzi Watford, our Chief Marketing Officer; Chris Lloyd, Head of PIB; and Almar Latour, Publisher and EVP of DJMG, will all now report directly to me. Other direct reports of Katie’s will report to Anna.
I would like to thank Katie for all her hard work and dedication over the past few years – and for being not only a tenacious and passionate member of the senior leadership team, but also instrumental in setting us on the path to sustained growth. Please join me in wishing her the very best for the future.
Best,
