Time Magazine Names Its First Female Managing Editor

Nancy Gibbs, 53, was named the new managing editor of Time Magazine on Tuesday, becoming the first woman to become the top editor at the newsweekly in its 90-year history.

Ms. Gibbs, who started her career at Time as a fact-checker 28 years ago, is replacing Richard Stengel, who is leaving to work for the State Department after seven years in the job. Ms. Gibbs had most recently been working as Mr. Stengel’s deputy.

While Ms. Gibbs said that she had filled in on occasion for Mr. Stengel in the past, she officially started overseeing Time’s covers last month, beginning with the Aug. 5 issue. In addition to writing more cover stories for Time than any other writer in the magazine’s history, Ms. Gibbs is a prolific author whose most recent book, “The President’s Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity,” was published last year.

Ms. Gibbs said in a phone interview that she expected her writing skills would help Time Inc. tell stories across all media, including online and through video. While Time has experienced a decline in newsstand sales of about 39 percent over the past five years, it has held onto its total circulation of approximately 3.3 million subscribers and newsstand buyers, according to data tracked by the Alliance for Audited Media.

Its digital presence is also growing through its 4.9 million followers on Twitter.

“I think I am the first editor to take over when our digital audience is bigger than our print audience,” Ms. Gibbs said. “My role is going to be more widely spread than past editors’ â€" on what we are thinking about what we are doing online, what we are doing with tablet, what we are doing with print.”

Ms. Gibbs added that she had been surprised at how many young women at Time said they were excited about her promotion, even at a time when breaking “this glass ceiling has become so commonplace.” In January, Time Inc. named Martha Nelson editor in chief of its magazine division, the first woman to hold that job.

Ms. Gibbs said that these moves seemed to have resonated with employees. “This is a historic institution and there is something that excites people about seeing a woman run it for the first time,” she said.

Ms. Gibbs is taking over a title that continues to generate revenue for the Time Inc. empire. According to data tracked by the magazine consultant John Harrington, the title’s projected advertising and circulation revenues generated $497 million in 2012.