After 25 years at the helm of Travel Weekly, editor in chief and Northstar Travel Group executive vice president/editorial director Arnie Weissmann will assume the position of explorer at large for Northstar on Jan. 1.
In that role, Weissmann will continue traveling and contributing his column and other writing to Travel Weekly but will relinquish his executive vice president and editorial director titles. Johanna Jainchill, currently news editor at Travel Weekly, will be promoted to editor in chief, and managing editor Rebecca Tobin will be promoted to director of editorial strategy and operations.
Johanna Jainchill
Weissmann, who prior to taking on the editorship had co-founded Weissmann Travel Reports (now incorporated in the Northstar product travel42) and had served as a group publisher and senior advisor for business development for Northstar's predecessor companies Reed Travel Group and Cahners Travel Group. He will continue to represent Travel Weekly and Northstar in the industry and will serve in an advisory role within Northstar.
Jainchill came to Travel Weekly 19 years ago from the New York Times and had previously served as destinations editor and has covered retail news, travel policy and the cruise industry.
Rebecca Tobin
Tobin joined the publication in 2000 as an editor on its website. She covered the cruise industry before becoming managing editor in 2005.
- Related: Read Weissmann's "From the Window Seat" column detailing why he decided to step aside at this time.
In addition, Ken Shapiro has been promoted to senior vice president, content director of Northstar's Retail Group. Shapiro, who currently oversees the content teams at Northstar brands TravelAge West, TravelPulse, TravelPulse Canada, AgentatHome and travel42, will add oversight of Travel Weekly to his duties. Shapiro has more than 20 years' experience working in travel trade journalism and content.