BuzzFeed executive Keith Hernandez on Wednesday was named to the newly created position of president of online publisher Slate.
The appointment, announced by The Slate Group's chairman Jacob Weisberg and vice chairman Dan Check, officially retires Slate's title of publisher, which had been held by Matt Turck. Turck is now chief revenue officer of Panoply, The Slate Group's podcasting network.
Hernandez had been BuzzFeed's vice president of brand strategy. He oversaw the site's branding and revenue across North America and Australia and influenced the site's increased use of native advertisements, which became controversial at times.
"Slate’s business has evolved from selling ad space on a page to working with our advertising and agency partners to use Slate's expertise to create solutions that drive value beyond banners and buttons," Check said in a statement to The Huffington Post. "Keith is the perfect person to lead that business; he has a proven track record and great foresight. Ultimately, we think the right title for that skill set is President.”
Hernandez said he is excited to help shape Slate's brand, especially in social media.
"Slate has excelled for years at making people stop, think, and share,” Hernandez said in a statement."With Slate as one of the early publishing partners on Facebook Instant Articles and Apple News, the brand is better positioned now than ever before, and I’m looking forward to helping guide it into the future.”
Before joining BuzzFeed in 2012, Hernandez worked for Blip Networks, Vevo, Microsoft, and The Onion.