Sidney Holt

Executive Director, American Society of Magazine Editors

Sid Holt’s magazine career began in 1984, when he joined Rolling Stone as an assistant editor. Six years later, Holt was named managing editor, the chief editorial position at Rolling Stone. During Holt’s seven years as managing editor, Rolling Stone received 19 National Magazine Award nominations, including 4 for General Excellence, and won the magazine's first award for General Excellence in 1998. From 1995, Holt was also editorial director of Us Magazine; in 1996 he was named vice-president of Wenner Media.

From 1998 to 2004, Holt was editor in chief and executive vice-president of Adweek Magazines, guiding the editorial direction of Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek, the leading newsmagazines and web sites on advertising, marketing and media. Holt was also the chief editor of Editor & Publisher, the Neal Award-winning “bible” of the newspaper industry, and oversaw the launch of Marketing y Medios, the first monthly magazine to cover Hispanic advertising, marketing and media in the United States.

In 2005, Holt was named editorial director of VNU Business Media, where he was the chief strategist and brand steward for 40 business magazines and nearly 200 digital publications, including Adweek, Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter. In 2008, Holt was appointed chief executive of the American Society of Magazine Editors, the principal organization for magazine journalists in the United States, which sponsors the National Magazine Awards in association with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.