Although it’s not exactly the typical “January surprise” Condé Nast employees have become accustomed to, the company unveiled a little publisher reshuffling on Thursday, with Paul Jowdy leaving his post at Bon Appétit to become publisher of Details. This position had been vacant for the past year, but executive vice president and publishing director Bill Wackermann was put in charge of stabilizing the business and, as he put it, “getting it ready for a seasoned publisher to take over.” Details ended last year down 1 percent in ad pages, to 777 pages.
“I’m the fixer,” Wackermann told WWD. “My hope is in one to two years, [Jowdy will] be off and running. It happened with Brides and now it’s on to Bon Appétit.” Jowdy will be succeeded at Bon Appétit by Pamela Drucker Mann, a rising star at the company who has served as associate publisher, advertising, at Glamour. For those keeping score at home, there’s still half a month left for more surprises.