Jeff Moriarty Appointed to Head Up Digital at Johnston Press

LONDON, January 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Leading media group Johnston Press plc has today announced the appointment of Jeff Moriarty as Chief Digital and Product Officer.

Jeff is currently Vice President, Digital Products for The Boston Globe and General Manager for Boston.com in the United States and has been instrumental in driving significant success across the portfolio.

He will join Johnston Press in April with responsibility for the vision and development of the company's digital strategy whilst building on recent successes, which have seen JP's digital audiences grow by 45% year on year and reach 13.7m unique users last month.

Jeff, whose appointment follows a global search, has spent  much of his career at The New York Times Company and has held a number of vice president and general manager roles in classified products, product & technology, new media, and product management. He designed and developed what is considered to be among the most successful regional subscription-based sites in the US - the award-winning BostonGlobe.com, known for its pioneering use of Responsive Web Design to embrace the shift to mobile devices.  

Chief Executive Officer Ashley Highfield said: "Jeff is an outstanding candidate and the knowledge, experience, insight and innovation that he will bring to Johnston Press will help us forge ahead with our ambitious growth plans.

"Our digital revenues have grown by 60% and in many parts of the UK they now account for 20% of our overall advertising revenues (as recently as 2010 they made up only 5%). Jeff's exceptional track record will ensure our growth continues and I very much look forward to welcoming him aboard."

Jeff's innovative product development is underpinned by a journalistic background. He has had a broad career across regional newspapers and digital media. Beginning as a founding editor of a weekly newspaper and later a metro news editor, he launched the earliest regional websites in the Times, later building niche products Winetoday.com on California wines, and later Golfdigest.com, for the sport's top magazine.

At The New York Times he built an industry-leading Manhattan real estate site and verticals in autos and jobs. Returning to the Times' regional group, he helped grow the digital businesses across 14 newspaper markets across the US.  In 2009 he joined About.com and brought that site new mobile, video and advertising offerings before joining The Boston Globe in 2010.

Jeff replaces former Johnston Press Digital & Business Development Director Henry Faure Walker, who has been appointed Newsquest's Chief Executive Officer.

Johnston Press:

Johnston Press is a leading multimedia regional publisher with more than 200 print titles, 196 local websites, tablet and smartphone apps and associated digital brands, including Digital Kitbag, jobstoday.co.uk, The SmartList and Wow24/7