Anna Jones is stepping down as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Hearst UK in 2017 to co-found AllBright, a funding platform dedicated to sourcing, nurturing and backing outstanding female-led companies in the UK. She will also become Executive Chairman of ShareStyle, a digital marketplace for style services.
Jones completes her tenure as CEO of Hearst after five years with the company, to co-found AllBright with Debbie Wosskow, serial entrepreneur and CEO at Love Home Swap.
During her time as CEO, Jones implemented an ambitious diversification strategy.
Jones launched new divisions such as the experiential and events-focused ‘Hearst Live’ (responsible for consumer events like ‘Cosmo FashFest’ and ‘Red’s Smart Women Week’); as well as ‘Hearst Made’, a content marketing division which provides editorial content for the likes of ASDA, P&G and Jamie Oliver magazine.
Among Jones’ personal highlights was kick-starting ‘Hearst Empowering Women’, an initiative spanning all Hearst’s brands that became an online destination and events program to inform and inspire women to live the lives they choose. It was this project and passion for championing women that led Anna to co-found her new venture.
Anna Jones comments: “Hearst has an incredible reach in the UK – talking to one in three British women – and this gave me an amazing opportunity to be inspired by women and to gain a wider understanding of what makes us tick. In particular, I saw how many women wanted to start and run their own businesses but didn’t feel they had the right finance or support to do so. AllBright has been created to address this issue.
“I’m also thrilled to be taking on the role of Executive Chairman at ShareStyle, an incredibly innovative company that Debbie Wosskow and I have invested in. I have met and worked with hugely talented people across the media industry during my career and I hope I will continue to work with them in both my new roles. ShareStyle will give creatives a showcase and route to market and AllBright the investment and support for those budding entrepreneurs.
“It will be hard to say goodbye to Hearst, it’s an incredible business full of talented people and outstanding brands, but after many years running a large company I’m looking forward to becoming a female founder myself.”
