Erica Futterman becomes director of masthead operations at The New York Times

Erica Futterman

It isn’t a secret that leadership transitions can be endlessly complicated, and we’ve been lucky that our recent one has been far easier than most. While that is due in large part to the strength of our team and our strategy, it’s also due to a lot of behind-the-scenes work to ensure the process was as thoughtful and seamless as possible.

We’re thrilled that a critical player in that work, Erica Futterman, will now take on a new, permanent assignment supporting Joe and the senior masthead as director of Masthead Operations.

Erica’s role will be to help the leadership team push forward its priorities, especially making the most critical decisions and then acting on them. Akin to a chief of staff, she’ll be responsible for helping bring more structure to the way the masthead works, and to ensuring the leadership team is operating as efficiently and effectively as possible. If you want to put an issue on the masthead’s radar or agenda, Erica is your go-to contact. As part of her role Erica will also help coordinate with companywide partners, including the offices of the publisher and C.E.O.

We’re lucky to have in Erica someone with the uniquely wide range of talents and experience necessary for such a role. She’s a force for pushing through barriers to get things done, yet sensitive to the ways our employees experience change and our need to be mindful of its impact. She’s committed to The Times’s mission and values, yet she sees and advocates for ways we can improve, informed by a wealth of experience and lessons gleaned both here and at other media organizations. And she’s relentlessly positive even in the face of the biggest challenges.

Erica began her career at The Times in 2017, working in Newsroom Strategy for three years before joining Audio as director of strategic operations, where her work included efforts to strengthen team culture and diversity, equity and inclusion; streamline operations for “The Daily”; and implement new systems to support the rapid growth of the team. She rejoined Newsroom Strategy at the beginning of 2022 to support the transition and help manage the planning for our return to office, among other projects. Prior to joining The Times, Erica was managing editor at BuzzFeed (during a period when its staff grew five-fold) as well as at Refinery29. Erica started her career at Rolling Stone, where she helped manage its website and edited digital stories, and was also deputy editor and New York bureau chief at MTV News.

Please join us in congratulating Erica on her new role.