Today, The Washington Post announced Suzi Watford as its Chief Strategy Officer, a new role designed to oversee the publication’s strategy, aligning it across all business functions and overseeing brand identity – including marketing and events efforts.
Watford joins The Post from SiriusXM, where she served as Chief Growth Officer driving enterprise-level growth strategy and overseeing marketing, analytics and research, distribution partnerships, acquisition and engagement for both SiriusXM and Pandora. She will work hand in hand with Post leadership in efforts to define long-term vision, strategy and priorities.
“Suzi has built a career pioneering transformative strategy across media outfits, dynamically mastering change with seamless execution,” said William Lewis, Publisher and CEO of The Post. “I’m confident her experience and competitive industry prowess will advance our role as the most important news organization in America.”
“I’m thrilled to be joining one of the most accomplished and respected news organizations in the world at such a critical inflection point,” said Watford. “The Post’s history of innovation lends itself to a vision of unrivaled potential that I can’t wait to be a part of.”
Recently named to Business Insider’s “CMOs to Watch,” Watford has a proven track record of elevating brand identity and building membership. Under her leadership at SiriusXM, she launched the company’s refreshed brand efforts helping them earn Fast Company’s distinction as “Most Innovative Media Company” last month. Prior to SiriusXM, Watford served as the Executive Vice President of Consumer Business at Dow Jones, where she doubled digital subscriptions across the business and propelled its historic levels of quarterly profitability and revenue. She has also held the title of Chief Marketing & Membership Officer at Dow Jones significantly growing consumer revenue and building an industry leading live events business, establishing professional membership verticals and negotiating multimillion-dollar partnerships. Her former media leadership has previously included roles at The Times of London, News UK and the Telegraph Media Group.
Watford is the latest industry leader addition to The Post, joining the recent hires of Gitesh Gohel as Head of Product & Design, Karl Wells as Chief Growth Officer, and Jamie Stockwell as Executive Local Editor.
She will join The Post on May 13 and be based out of Washington, D.C. She will report to Publisher and CEO William Lewis.
