The Guardian is pleased to announce the appointment of Richard Furness as managing director, customer engagement and business development. In his new role Richard will lead the newly created customer engagement and business development division at GNM, and will focus on building a coordinated strategy across the publisher’s growing multimedia portfolio and reader revenue opportunities, including audio, video and newsletters. Richard will also continue to build on the Guardian’s strategy for masterclasses as well as live events - which have seen a four-fold increase in attendees since moving to a digital format in April 2020.
Richard has worked at the Guardian since 1998 and was most recently managing director of consumer revenues and publishing. Previously he has held roles as director of publishing and director of marketing, brand and engagement and has led commercially on numerous product launches and redesigns, including the 2018 move to tabloid.
Paul Kanareck, chief commercial and customer officer, Guardian News & Media said:
“Rich has a long history of outstanding work at the Guardian. I’m confident that in his new role he will continue in the same vein, and will build on our already successful reader revenue and multimedia offering to ensure that we are maximising all opportunities available and offering the best experience for our readers.”
Richard Furness said:
“I’m really excited about the next phase of our growth, and the opportunity to work closely with our award-winning editorial and commercial teams to grow the value of our multimedia portfolio and explore new ways to engage our readers globally.”
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For more information please contact: media.enquiries@theguardian.com
Notes for editors
About Guardian News & Media
Guardian News & Media (GNM) publishes theguardian.com, one of the world’s leading English-language newspaper websites. Traffic from outside of the UK now represents around two-thirds of the Guardian’s total digital audience. In the UK, GNM publishes the Guardian newspaper six days a week, first published in 1821, and the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, The Observer.
