New York, NY --The Huffington Post Media Group has named Lauren Kapp senior vice president, global strategy, marketing and communications. In this newly created position, Kapp will serve on the Huffington Post leadership team as a key advisor to president and editor-in-chief Arianna Huffington, helping guide HuffPost’s ongoing expansion. Kapp comes to Huffington Post Media Group from NBCUniversal, where she is senior vice president, NBC News marketing and communications.
In her new role, Kapp will serve as a strategic lead in HPMG’s current expansion phase that includes new properties in Europe and South America and the soon-to-launch Huffington Post Streaming Network. She will also oversee marketing, communications and publicity across all HPMG properties. HPMG has over 500 global employees and, according to ComScore, HPMG News had 57.3 million unique visitors in February, 2012.
As senior vice president at NBC News, Kapp oversaw the creation of a new unit combining for the first time marketing and communications functions. She also managed marketing, promotion, brand strategy and public relations for the news division’s executives, business initiatives, philanthropy initiatives and programming, including “Today,” “Nightly News with Brian Williams” and “Meet the Press.” Kapp led the launch team and was responsible for the marketing, promotions and communications for "Rock Center with Brian Williams," the first news magazine the division had launched in nearly two decades. She has been lead communicator for NBC News since August 2009, and created its social media department. Since acquiring that role, Kapp has served as a key advisor to NBC News management, navigating numerous breaking news events and crisis situations. While at NBCU, she has served on the NBCU Management Committee, the NBCU Marketing Council, and the NBC News Diversity Committee.
Kapp joined the NBC News press department in 2002, where she managed "Today" communications for five years as chief spokesperson and primary publicist. She was promoted to senior director, taking on a similar role for "Nightly News with Brian Williams," and NBC News specials. Kapp previously worked in the ABC News press department, earning a Peabody Award as a team member on the network's coverage of September 11, 2001.