For many magazine types, being a Condé Nast editor in chief is the ultimate career coup. But there are only so many slots to go around. Apparently that's why Mark Healy, articles editor at GQ, has decided to bolt the company to become editor in chief of Penthouse. Diane Silberstein, Penthouse's president and publisher, announced the hire to staff this afternoon, noting that editor Peter Bloch and creative director Frank Devino report to him beginning Oct. 30.
Healy might be the ideal hire for Penthouse, which is trying to rebrand itself as a mainstream men's mag, albeit one that shows nipples and shaved nether regions, after decades of being known as a harder-core alternative to Playboy. During his five-year tenure at GQ, Healy was under consideration to be the founding editor in chief of Cargo, the now-defunct men's shopping title, but was ultimately passed over in favor of Ariel Foxman, then at In Style. Earlier, he worked at Details and Rolling Stone.