by The Awl
It is with mixed feelings that we announce the departure of Awl Publisher John Shankman at the end of this month. John, who has been with the company for nearly three years, and helped us grow from the lean and scrappy startup publications few of us would even recognize now, has been bit by the founding bug and is leaving us to start his own company. According to John, Hashtag Labs “wants to help advertisers produce great #content and help creative talent and publishers maximize their earnings.” We look forward to working with John and Hashtag Labs in the future.
John’s departure comes at an important juncture in the history of The Awl. Now that the original site has been handed over to a new set of editors, Alex Balk and Choire Sicha have nothing to do all day. Haha J/K. What we mean to say is that Choire and Alex have more time to focus on the larger business and editorial aspects of a growing company.
But we won’t be doing it alone. Stepping up to fulfill many of John’s former tasks is Associate Publisher/content philosopher Michael Macher, whose impressive abilities in his previous role have made us more than comfortable with the impending transition. Do you want your brand associated with this site and its impressive and sexy demographics? Macher’s the man to see. (He is still coming up with his own synonym for “indiellectual,” and we will inform you all once that decision has been made.)
We’d like to say thanks to John for all his tireless efforts on our behalf and wish him the best of luck in this endeavor. We’ll miss him, but we’re excited for everyone as we move on to the next step.
