Portfolio's new ME calms the troops

John Koblin of the New York Observer writes Wednesday about how new Conde Nast Portfolio managing editor Jacob Lewis has had a calming influence on the business magazine’s editorial staff.

Koblin writes, “As managing editor Mr. Lewis, 37, who spent 12 years at The New Yorker, including five as its managing editor, has brought a steady and practiced hand to the wheel of Portfolio, which celebrates its one-year anniversary this month. ‘I wanted someone who knew how magazines worked,’ said Joanne Lipman, the magazine’s editor. ‘And I wanted to bring in someone who already knew Condé Nast.’

“Prior to Mr. Lewis’ arrival, Portfolio bore little resemblance to the other high-profile magazines of 4 Times Square. Ms. Lipman, Mr. Pope and Jim Impocco, the magazine’s ousted deputy editor, had all come directly from newspapers, and they made an early habit of hiring staff writers, hardly standard Condé practice. ‘You just never think of a mix of stories when you work for a daily paper,’ said one staffer. ‘I don’t think everyone understood that coming in here, and I think they’re still learning it, but it’s basic stuff for magazine people.’

“Mr. Lewis, in contrast, thinks the idea of a staff writer is ‘silly,’ according to another employee. Recent hires, like David Margolick, Howell Raines and Dana Thomas, have been offered contracts, as they are in most of the rest of the building, and existing staff writers have been asked to give up their health benefits, 401(k) plans and prospective pension plans and join the magazine under contract. (Mr. Lewis is quick to point out they could decline this shift to independence; indeed, only Alexandra Wolfe, daughter of Tom and a former Observer staffer, took him up on it.)”

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