Primary Job Title Chief Executive Officer Primary Organization G/O Media
Location New York, New York, United States Regions Greater New York Area, East Coast, Northeastern US Gender Male
LinkedIn View on LinkedIn X (Twitter) View on X
Jim Spanfeller is Chief Executive Officer at G/O Media. He previously worked as the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Spanfeller Group, an online publishing consulting company.
Prior to forming The Spanfeller Group, Jim served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Forbes.com, the nation’s leading business magazine, from 2000
through 2009, and served as Executive Vice President of Electronic Publishing.
As CEO of Forbes.com, Jim oversaw the strategic and operational management of the company. Under his leadership, Forbes.com revenue and traffic experienced triple-digit growth year over year for three consecutive years.
In May 2005, he oversaw the launch of ForbesAutos.com, the only online site dedicated to the luxury automotive buyer. In 2006, BtoB Media Business named Jim “Top Innovator in Business Publishing,” and he was inducted into MIN Magazine’s first-ever Digital Hall of Fame. Also in 2006, Forbes.com rose from #7 to #4 in BtoB magazine’s annual “Media Power 50” list.
In 2005, BtoB Media Business named Spanfeller “Top Interactive Executive for General Business Publishers,” as part of their Top Innovators in Business Publishing awards and BtoB, named him one of their “Top 25 Newsmakers.” In October 2003, MIN Magazine called him one of the industry’s standout media executives in its annual “21 Most Intriguing People” issue.
Prior to joining Forbes, Jim was President, Consumer Magazine Group of Ziff Davis Media, Inc., the largest technology publishing company in the United States. The titles under his responsibility were PC Magazine, Yahoo! Internet Life, Smart Business, Family PC and Expedia Travels. He also managed Corporate Sales and Custom Publishing and was on the company's Board of Directors.
He joined Ziff Davis Media in 1996 to launch Yahoo! Internet Life, as Founding Publisher, and oversaw all aspects of the business, including editorial, circulation, production, marketing and advertising sales. This magazine launch was one the most successful in the last decade, and the publication now has a circulation of 1.1 million. He also had direct supervision of the magazine's Web site, which attracted over 4 million page views a month.
Before working at Ziff Davis Media, Jim was Publisher of Inc. magazine, and he has also been Senior Vice President, Marketing/Associate Publisher of Playboy Enterprises Publishing Group, which owns and operates Playboy Magazine. Prior to this he held senior sales positions at Newsweek.
Jim has served as Chairman and Vice-Chariman of the Board for the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), and is actively involved in the Online Publishers Association (OPA).In 2006 he was named to the Board’s at Freedom Communications, Inc. and Viewpoint Corporation. He served on the Board of Directors of the Magazine Publishers Association, 1999-2000.
Jim received a B.A. in English Literature from Union College.
