
I am an exceptional leader and experienced digital journalist, at home in pitch meetings and SEO discussions, with writers, videographers, sales people and coders. I enjoy:
- Connecting people to the information and stories that impact their lives positively.
- Building teams that are sustainable and high-performing.
- Creating an environment for brilliant things to happen.
I’ve done this long enough to know that all that involves vision, a sense of joy, and conflict. The skillful mediation of those tensions can make something special.
I am currently the Director of Content and Publications for Universal Health Services, Inc., a Fortune 300 company that manages 26 acute care hospitals and more than 300 behavioral health facilities in the U.S. and England. I manage all the words for the company’s marketing efforts. Previously, I spent three months as the Managing Editor for the Philadelphia Business Journal.
This came after a longer stint at Rodale Publishing. I was the Senior Director of Digital Editorial Operations from 2016 to March 2018, working to help the company’s high-profile brands—Men’s Health, Women’s Health, Prevention, Bicycling, and Runner’s World—reach and empower audiences across the world. I led cross-brands teams dedicated to video, social media, and digital production. Strategy, tactics, putting out fires and holding folks accountable to the mission—yeah, done that. Before that, I was Senior Managing Editor of MensHealth.com since December 2007, serving as the only common factor on an ever-revolving team that grew audience and revenue 15-fold over eight years.
That followed a significant stint as editorial and operations lead (formal titles: Director of Site Operations and Executive Producer) for Philly.com, the online home of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News.
Over that time, I’ve learned a lot about journalism—both news and service—and the business of digital, including all the acronyms: SEO, AMP, P&L, DFP, CMS, CRM, Aff-Comm, E-Comm, etc. Beyond acronyms, I’m an experienced leader who has learned that paying careful attention, investing in your team, staying open, and doggedly sticking with it is usually the best way to accomplish what you’re aiming for in this world. (If you’re interested, here’s my LinkedIn profile. If you’re looking for references, I’m partial to the Facebook comments here when I shared news that I wouldn’t have a role with Hearst.)
I served for three years as an adjunct professor at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, where I taught two 500-level classes: “Writing and Editing for Magazine Web Sites” and “Sports Writing for Multiple Platforms.” I think universities are literally miracles, and I enjoyed teaching—I was Newhouse’s first foray into remote teaching, and I experienced both the magic and the frustrations of teaching from the front of a virtual classroom.
I live near Philadelphia with my wife Virginia. That’s her, above. Other than sweeping all three games in lunchtime basketball, she and my family are the joys in my life.
I like to write. I’ve done it professionally for almost three decades. I’ve kept a modest blog over the years. It’s all collected here.
Here are some things I have written for publications over the years:
- Two the Hard Way (Asbury Park Press, 1990; this won an AP best-in-state award for sports feature writing)
- Lance Armstrong’s Incredible Comeback (Philadelphia Daily News, 1998)
- Why You Could Be Days Away From a Heart Attack and Not Even Know It (Men’s Health; a long-form feature in the magazine’s January 2016 issue)
- Interview With Jason Isbell About Dads and Sons (Men’s Health)
- Should You Buy Your Next Mattress On the Internet? (Men’s Health)
- Why You Should Give Up Drinking For 30 Days (Men’s Health)
- Why the NFL Should Buy the MLS Right Now (Men’s Health)
- What Makes a Hero? (Men’s Health)
- We Should Move the Super Bowl to Saturday (Tonic)
- SJU Grads Feed Boyle’s Mission (Saint Joseph’s University)
- What does ‘digital transformation’ mean for health startups in 2019? (Technical.ly)
You can find me on Twitter and Facebook too. Want to talk? You can reach me via email or call me at 484-751-7795.
What a great surprise, Mark! I got a kick out of finding it and all the memories it kicked off in my head. I’d love to hear what and how you’re doing. Let me know how we could get in touch.
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Hey Kevin,
It’s Mark Murray. I was looking through google for something for work and came across the “Two the hard way” article. This was a great article to come across again and even greater to be a part of. Maybe we can catch up some time and do a follow up.
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