Keith Clinkscales Biography

Keith Clinkscales is the President of KTC Ventures, a media, marketing, and cultural communications consultancy firm. He just joined ESPN as Senior Vice President and General Manager of ESPN Publishing. Clinkscales previously created Vanguarde Media, Inc. with the goal of giving voice to today's urban consumers' important issues, interests, and concerns. VMI, the publisher of Heart & Soul, HONEY, impact! Weekly, and SAVOY magazines, was prominent media players and a dominant force in defining the American urban marketplace, with a total readership of over 1,000,000. Before shutting in 2003 due to unpredictable advertising and capital markets, VMI delivered news, trends, and features on urban music, fashion, entertainment, politics, and health. Clinkscales, who has a Harvard M.B.A. and was the first African American chosen as a president at Time, Inc., when he served as president and CEO of VIBE magazine, has been dubbed "the boy wonder of black magazine publishing" by The Washington Post. VIBE went from a consumer music magazine with a circulation of fewer than 100,000 to a complete, industry-standard urban lifestyle journal with a circulation of 700,000 readers in less than 6 years thanks to Clinkscales. VIBE was the fastest growing publication in Time Warner history to attain profitability under Clinkscales' leadership (it has since only been surpassed by Teen People and In Style). VIBE has also been nominated for five National Magazine Awards and was named one of AdWeek's Top 10 Magazines. Clinkscales gives a lot of talks at industry events for the media and entertainment industries, as well as to marketers who want to tap into the power of urban culture. He advises businesses wanting to extend their market share by entering the urban market, as well as those interested in learning more about the effect of urban culture on the ever-changing American media environment. He is a credible corporate representative and speaker who focuses on the effect of urban-American lifestyles that transcend race, class, and religion. Clinkscales has a long history of successful media property conception, development, and administration; a track record of successful brand expansion; and mastery of positioning media assets for urban audiences. In 1988, he debuted in the media with the creation of Urban Profile, a forerunner of the urban magazine genre. The circulation had risen to 75,000 by the time he graduated from Harvard Business School many years later. Clinkscales led the establishment of the VIBE Music Seminar, a lucrative national music industry event; VibeBiz, a magazine co-venture with Variety; and BLAZE magazine, the most successful music magazine launch in publishing history, during his time at VIBE/SPIN Ventures. Clinkscales was one of the first in the publishing business to see the potential of the Internet to boost the urban market, founding VIBE.com in 1994 as a result of his vision. Clinkscales is the Treasurer of the Apollo Theater Foundation Board of Trustees and a magna cum laude alumnus of Florida A&M University. He also holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He also serves on the Multicultural Advisory Board of PepsiCo and the Young Presidents' Organization. Clinkscales was elected into the Advertising Hall of Fame of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) in 1999.

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