The 2001 American Woman Award
Cathleen Black

Cathleen Black heads Hearst Magazines, a division of The Hearst Corporation and the world's largest publisher of monthly magazines. She oversees the financial performance and development of some of the industry's best-known titles: Cosmopolitan, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper's BAZAAR, Marie Claire, O, The Oprah Magazine, Popular Mechanics, Redbook, Talk and Town & Country—16 magazines in all.

One of Black's key areas of emphasis is extending the brand names of Hearsts titles beyond magazines, into more than 3,500 products on the world market. She also has promoted growth in licensing and the internet, and has overseen aggressive international expansion. Today, Hearst publishes 101 international editions in more than 41 countries.

Black began her publishing career on the advertising sales staffs of several magazines. She made publishing history in April 1979 when she became the first woman publisher of a weekly consumer magazine: New York.

Black is widely credited for the success of USA Today, where for eight years she was first president, then publisher. At Gannett, USA Today's parent company, she served as executive vice president/marketing of the parent company, and was a member of the Gannett Board of Directors. In 1991, Black became the president and CEO of the Newspaper Association of America, the newspaper industrys largest trade group, where she served for five years before joining Hearst.

In addition to serving on the Board of Directors of The Hearst Corporation, Black serves on the boards of IBM, iVillage and The Coca-Cola Company and is currently chairman of the Magazine Publishers of America. She is also a board member of the Advertising Council and a trustee of The University of Notre Dame. Black is a graduate of Trinity College, Washington, D.C., and holds eight honorary degrees. In 1998, 1999 and 2000, Fortune magazine ranked Black among the top 30 "Most Powerful Women in American Business." In March 2000, she was named "Publishing Executive of the Year" by Advertising Age magazine.