Who’s Who

Kilian Schalk

Content Workflow design & implementation

photo by Amanda Crommett

PurpleGray came about in 2014 because Kilian felt that the people around him on the front lines of magazine production had a big role to play in solving the industry’s problems. He wanted to enable them. He saw an opportunity for publishers. And he’s been busy ever since proving that it is extremely good business to involve whole teams in the process of workflow (re)design and management.

A popular and energetic speaker with an international audience, Kilian has helped clients large and small re-think and re-invent how they produce (multi-channel) content.

Before PurpleGray, and even before he was the youngest Production Manager in Rolling Stone history, he earned his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Vassar College and found his calling at the Prague Post and the Tribune de Prague. As Technical Director of Digital Projects for The New Yorker, he was integral to the launch of the magazine’s website, digital archive, and kindle, nook, audible.com and iPad editions and steered the production department through a six-fold increase in (digital) output without compromising print quality or creating burnout.

As Managing Editor for Editorial Development at Condé Nast, he helped define and implement cultural change across eighteen titles. He also began to think deeply about the unique challenges and opportunities faced by legacy brands in today’s environment, and was on-hand four years later to create and guide the blueprint for a workflow overhaul of Vanity Fair.

His successful repositioning of America Media, one of the oldest periodicals in the United States, to ‘lead the conversation about faith and culture’ in the 21st century cemented Kilian’s conviction that workflow holds the key to transformative potential. He has gone on to work extensively with Catholic publishers in the United States, most recently by guiding successive cohorts of small publishing teams through the content-first workflow transformation process, and hopes to further develop this program in partnership with other industry groups. His goal is to support publications everywhere as they learn to cope with permanent change.

Jan. 18 2023, CMA Webinar with Kilian as Moderator

Summary Bio

Kilian Schalk has been enabling publishers to thrive in a multichannel environment for decades. An expert in workflow design and “an energetic, passionate devotee of continuous improvement”, he began his career as the youngest Production Manager in Rolling Stone history and more recently positioned America Media, one of the oldest periodicals in the United States, to ‘lead the conversation about faith and culture’. As Technical Director of Digital Projects he guided The New Yorker’s evolution from print-only to the iPad. He also helped define and implement culture change across eighteen titles at Condé Nast and created blueprints to overhaul workflows at publications ranging from IEEE Spectrum to Vanity Fair. His remote transformation programs have helped small to mid-sized magazine teams across North America define and implement the culture change they need to compete in a mobile environment, launch new digital products, create newsletters, launch podcasts, expand into radio, add video channels, use resources they already have, and go home at the end of the day.


Experience

  • As Employee

    • Production Manager, Rolling Stone (1995-99)

    • Deputy Director of Production, The New Yorker (1999-2011)

      • Integral to the launch of the 2000 print-overhaul redesign; newyorker.com; Audible edition; The Complete New Yorker archive (DVD and online); newyorker.com 2.0; kindle, nook, and iPad editions; and transition from Quark/QPS to Indesign/K4.

    • Technical Director for Digital Projects, The New Yorker (2006-2011)

      • Organized the process that led to a six-fold increase in digital output without compromising print quality or creating staff burnout.

    • Managing Editor for Editorial Development, Condé Nast (2011-2014)

      • Led transformation and continuous improvement programs for eighteen print magazines as well as the Circulation, Manufacturing, Digital Editions, and Paper Buying departments. 

      • Results included greater productivity, reduced time to market, diversified employee skill-sets, and increased profitability. Specific projects

        • Saved $500k over six months without cutting staff.

        • Reduced average delivery from fifteen to seven business days with no additional costs.

        • Doubled team output over three months without requiring overtime.

        • Trained production staff to automate workflow processes across departments.

  • As PurpleGray Consulting (2014-present)

Content workflow design and implementation for publishers and others looking to grow audience, increase revenue, and speed up delivery.

  • Workflow overhaul based on Current and Future State modeling. (Condé Nast Consumer Marketing)

  • Legacy print redesign, website relaunch, content-first workflow transformation, and rebranding. (America Magazine, now America Media)

  • Print-to-digital transformation of archive material for multiple in-house publications. (NYU Langone)

  • Content-first workflow development. (Lean Enterprise Institute)

  • Current and Future State development for planned editorial workflow transformation. (Vanity Fair)

  • Simultaneous transformation of six publications from K4 to content first. (OSV)

  • Current and Future State development and implementation of an internal digital content workflow. (Woodwing)

  • Remote workflow transformation to content first based on Current and Future State modeling. (IEEE Spectrum)

  • Remote content-first workflow design and implementation. (Avenue Calgary)

  • Workflow development and implementation for syndication service launched at scale. (OSV News)

  • On-going program development and leadership to support remote digital, workflow, and organizational transformation for 50+ small and mid-sized periodicals around the world. (Catholic Media Association, Alberta Magazine Publishers Association, International Magazine Centre)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/10KUXxNLiIXr5Hxd2AaeaOz6Cu501nYlhgUuPCP_8yDo/edit

Jennifer McDermott

Business Manager • editor

Jennifer sails the ship. She and Kilian have worked together in a variety of contexts for more than twenty years and she not only came up with the name PurpleGray, she has steered the company through every stage of its development so far.

A writer/editor whose credits include radio, assorted anthologies, and the Fodor’s Travel Guides, she has studied maps and the use of symbolism by McDonald’s in Europe, worked in a bookshop, run a theatre, and taught Viola Spolin to middle schoolers. She is also a graduate of the International School of Geneva, the Sea Education Association, and Vassar College. She was for fifteen years an integral part of the Geneva Writers Group, and she holds two passports (American and Swiss).

In her current capacity as navigator for a small business, Jennifer continues to supply the strategic vision for PurpleGray, make connections that create opportunity, and oversee program development. She also advises as needed on every project, performs all business management functions, and dabbles in marketing. She is very good at learning whatever needs to be learned.