We're hearing that Condé Nast Media Group senior vice president Amy Churgin, who was in charge of new media, left the publishing company in a bit of a hurry last week. She's bounced around there a bit this year, spending just seven weeks last winter as the publisher of the group's Gourmet after a seven-year stint at Architectural Digest. Know anything else? Let us know.
Given that Ms. Churgin came up through HR, I'm guessing she fulfilled the Peter Principal long, long ago. Jesus, what is it about this company? Their costs in terms of seniors executives are so much higher than they need to be, just because Si always needs to be tinkering, putting the wrong people in the wrong jobs. It's like letting your retarded brother play Scrabble; you have to applaud just because he doesn't knock the fucking board over.
She's writing on my blog (GOD BLOGGIT!) now. I gave her a feature. It's called "Amy's Choice"—in it, she talks about fancy food eaten in new buildings, thus combining her editorial experience from the new publications. It's really working out quite well.
She didn't really want the corporate job, but they moved her into it when they had to fill the slot (you don't say no at Conde Nast). It was never a good fit, and everyone knew it. It's very different from selling a title - which is what she'll end up doing again, someplace. She's a good publisher and a very nice person.
