After a nearly three-month search, the j. board of directors announced this week that Steve Gellman will succeed Nora Contini as the newspaper’s publisher, effective July 15. Contini announced her retirement in April after nearly 30 years at j., including 25 years as associate publisher and the past 21 months as publisher.
Gellman is a Los Angeles native who says he’s nevertheless “always had a great affinity, a love for the Bay Area.” After graduating from UCLA with a degree in political science, he served as advertising director for BAM Media, the Bay Area–based rock ’n’ roll magazine, which required him to commute from L.A. on a monthly basis for 10 years.
“That’s when I really fell in love with the city,” he said. “My life and my career developed in a way that kept me in L.A., but I’ve always felt in tune with values and ideals embodied by the Bay Area.”
Gellman, 57, had stints in advertising and communications at the Hollywood Reporter and Los Angeles Magazine before becoming publisher of the Los Angeles Times Magazine and then vice president of advertising at the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles.
Gellman, who will lead both print and digital operations at j., said one of his biggest goals is to increase its audience “among people in their 20s, 30s and 40s, in a way that feels authentic.” He also wants to increase the paper’s digital media presence. J. reaches 50,000 readers through its weekly print edition, website, email newsletter and social media, and is in the process of seeking 501c3 nonprofit status.
Gellman and his wife, Corinne, have not yet decided where in the Bay Area they will live. The couple has a 21-year-old son who attends Bard College in New York and a 17-year-old daughter who just finished her junior year at Milken Community High School, a Jewish school in L.A.
“I think I’m the type of publisher that is ‘at his desk’ when I’m out in the community, meeting people, hearing people’s opinions — positive or negative — and I want people to know that,” he said. “I’m excited to get started.” — emma silvers