WASHINGTON — This year will see big changes at Politico, as its co-founder and other members of its leadership team prepare to depart 10 years after the political news website’s start.
In separate memos Thursday, Politico’s publisher — Robert Allbritton — and exiting co-founder and CEO Jim VandeHei outlined upcoming changes.
In addition to VandeHei’s departure, Kim Kingsley, the chief operating officer; Roy Schwartz, the chief revenue officer; Mike Allen, chief White House correspondent and author of the Politico Playbook; and Danielle Jones, an executive vice president, will be leaving the company in 2016.
Editor Susan Glasser will transition to a different position, stepping into the role of director of editorial innovation. She will do so from abroad as she plans to join her spouse, who will be on a reporting assignment in the Middle East, according to Allbritton’s memo.
VandeHei, Allen and Schwartz will stay on through the election.
“These transitions make perfect sense for the publication,” Allbritton wrote. “We are about to experience the most exciting, and I expect most enjoyable, period of expansion in ten years. With our revenue rapidly expanding, I am eager to make robust new investments in editorial quality, in technology, in business talent, and in new markets that we have not yet conquered.”
“Together, we did this,” VandeHei wrote in his own memo. “We created one of the most respected and feared brands in journalism — and one of the few with a business model based on real results, not mythology or hope.”
Politico’s other co-founder, John Harris, who is the editor-in-chief, will become publisher as part of the transition.
Editor’s note: Politico is a media partner of WTOP.
