Meredith Kopit Levien

Meredith Kopit Levien is one of the most consequential figures in modern media and advertising technology, best known for steering The New York Times away from advertising dependency toward a sustainable, subscription-first business model while simultaneously redefining how premium publishers can compete in a privacy-constrained digital ecosystem. As President and CEO of The New York Times Company since September 2020, she has overseen the growth of the Times's digital subscriber base to over 10 million, fundamentally reshaping the economics of quality journalism and demonstrating that reader revenue can anchor a thriving media business. Before ascending to the CEO role, Levien served as Chief Operating Officer from 2017 to 2020, with oversight spanning advertising, consumer marketing, product, technology, and data. She joined The Times in 2013 as Executive Vice President of Advertising, bringing with her deep commercial expertise from more than a decade at Forbes Media, where she rose to Chief Revenue Officer and was instrumental in Forbes's early digital advertising innovation. Her advertising leadership at The Times helped build the foundation for the company's first-party data strategy and its pivot away from programmatic commoditization toward high-value, contextual, and audience-based advertising solutions. Levien has emerged as a prominent industry voice on the deprecation of third-party cookies, advocating for privacy-preserving advertising models that rely on consented first-party data and contextual signals rather than cross-site tracking. Under her leadership, The Times has invested heavily in its own data and identity infrastructure, positioning itself as a case study for how publishers can maintain advertising revenue while prioritizing user trust. She is widely regarded as a standard-setter for sustainable publisher economics in the post-cookie era.

• Bachelor of Arts, University of Virginia

• Led The New York Times to surpass 10 million digital subscribers, one of the largest paid digital news audiences in the world
• Architected the Times's shift from advertising-dependent to subscription-first revenue model, reducing reliance on volatile ad markets
• Built The New York Times's first-party data and identity infrastructure as a post-cookie advertising alternative
• Oversaw the acquisitions of The Athletic, Wordle, and other properties that expanded the Times's subscriber base and product portfolio
• Grew The New York Times Company's market capitalization significantly during her tenure as CEO