New Crain's New York publisher coming from WSJ

Jill Kaplan, currently the general manager of several sections of The Wall Street Journal, has been named the new publisher of Crain’s New York Business, replacing Alair Townsend, who will become publishing director in mid-September, according to a story on the Crain’s site.

Kaplan is the general manager of The Weekend Edition, Weekend Journal, Personal Journal and The Journal Report. When Kaplan assumes her position at Crain’s, she will take responsibility for all day-to-day operations at the paper.

The story quoted Townsend as saying, “I’ve loved doing this job for nearly 18 years, but I’m getting ready for a change. As we were doing our succession planning, we were explicit in our criteria to find someone who could bring to Crain’s New York Business knowledge of business, politics, the arts and entertainment, and the experience to back it all up to help further grow CNYB. Jill has that plus some. I know that she is the one whose hand I want to lead our paper in the future.â€?

Said Rance Crain, president of Crain Communications Inc.: “We are not saying goodbye to Alair, but rather hello to Jill Kaplan. I’m very pleased that Alair has agreed to continue her column, which has been a real asset to the paper. If not for Alair, there would be no Crain’s New York Business today. It will now be Jill’s job to build on Alair’s work and take CNYB on to new glory.�

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