PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Frank Lalli has been
appointed Editor-in-Chief, International Editions and Magazine Development,
for The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., it was announced today by Mary
Berner, RDA's President and CEO. Lalli will report to Berner. His direct
reports will include the international editorial team in Pleasantville as
well as the editors of the international magazines.
"Frank comes to this position with outstanding credentials as an editor
who has strengthened existing magazines and conceived and launched new
ones. He is ideally suited to spearhead our international editorial effort
as we revitalize our flagship editions, expand our editorial franchises and
work to attract new readers worldwide," Berner said.
Lalli succeeds Conrad Kiechel in an expanded role. Kiechel, Editorial
Director, International, plans to leave RDA after a transition in which he
will help with the January 2008 launch of Reader's Digest magazine in The
People's Republic of China. This will be the magazine's 52nd edition
worldwide.
Lalli has worked with RDA since 2002, when he joined as Vice President
for Development and went on to help conceive Every Day with Rachael Ray,
among other successful launches. He created RD Specials, a line of
magazines sold at supermarket check-out counters, and formed Reader's
Digest Family Films to develop stories from RDA magazines into television
shows and movies. The unit's first feature film, "Ace of Hearts," produced
with Twentieth Century Fox and Peace Arch Films, will debut in May 2008.
Lalli contributed significantly to the July 2002 issue of Reader's Digest,
producing a cover package of reflections about the events of 9-11. He also
conducted the issue's exclusive interview with New York Mayor Rudy
Giuliani.
Most recently, he helped to develop several new international magazines
that the company plans to launch in the coming months.
Lalli previously held a variety of executive magazine positions,
including Editor-in-Chief of George, where he succeeded founder John F.
Kennedy, Jr. Frank spent 17 years at Time Inc., rising from Deputy Editor
of Magazine Development to Managing Editor of Money and ultimately Senior
Executive Editor of Time Inc. He also served as President of the American
Society of Magazine Editors from 1996 to 1998 and wrote the industry's
first Code of Ethics for magazine editors.
Lalli began his career as a newspaper reporter for The Record of Bergen
County and later served as West Coast Bureau Chief and then deputy editor
of Forbes. He worked with New York magazine's Clay Felker as founding
Executive Editor of Felker's New West magazine. He was named Editor of the
Year in 1997 by Advertising Age and was honored as one of the top 100
business journalists of the century in 1999 by the Journal of Financial
Reporting. Under his leadership, his magazines won numerous National
Magazine Awards, including the first-ever award for new media, for
money.com. He also was the Magazine Publishers of America's first Champion
of Diversity.
A New Jersey native, Lalli graduated summa cum laude with honors in
English from Miami University of Ohio.
Reader's Digest is the world's most-read magazine, reaching almost 80
million readers in more than 60 countries. The magazine is published in 51
local-country editions and in 22 languages. It is published by The Reader's
Digest Association, Inc., a global publishing and direct-marketing
corporation with headquarters near Pleasantville, N.Y. The corporate
website is http://www.rda.com.
SOURCE The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.rda.com
http://www.rd.com/
CONTACT:
William Adler of The Reader's Digest
Association, Inc., +1-914-244-7585, william.adler@rd.com
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