In August, digital media innovator and executive Matthew Graham joined the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP) as a Senior Fellow. Mr. Graham spent the past year at the USC Annenberg School working with dean Willow Bay to transform the school’s state of the art Julie Chen/Leslie Moonves and CBS Media Center into a digital-first news operation.
Prior to joining USC Annenberg, Mr. Graham served as Vice President and Head of Product for the Los Angeles Times, where he worked closely with the newsroom to find creative ways to tell stories across all digital platforms. From 2012 to 2015, Mr. Graham was Vice President of Audience and Product at USA TODAY Sports where he co-founded For The Win (FTW), a mobile-first website dedicated to viral sports stories. FTW was named best mobile content site by Digiday in 2014.
“Matt’s understanding of the digital world and of sports journalism has impressed all of us at the Annenberg School,” CCLP Director Geoffrey Cowan noted. “As a Senior Fellow at CCLP, Matt will continue to provide students and faculty with his unique brand of strategic thinking.”
Earlier in his career, Mr. Graham served as executive director of digital content for the Hearst Newspaper Group, spearheading dramatic audience growth in 2011. While Mr. Graham was in that role, Hearst saw their highest digital metrics of all time. As managing editor at Yahoo, Mr. Graham led a team that was an integral part of No.1 comScore rankings for every major tentpole event from 2007-2011, including the Beijing and Vancouver Olympics and the first Barack Obama election.