Pippa Jack, an innovative and versatile editor who has led Brown Alumni Magazine to a series of honors for its print and digital editions and expanded its reach, has been named the next editor of Yale Alumni Magazine.
Brown’s top editor since 2018, Jack succeeds Kathrin Day Lassila ‘81, who last year retired as Yale’s editor after more than two decades in the role.
“In Pippa Jack we’ve found a first-rate editorial leader who appreciates the high standards established by her predecessors at Yale and by the current YAM editorial staff, who is deeply invested in university communities, and who sees clearly the opportunity before us to evolve our magazine’s digital presence in ways that deepen alumni connections with each other and with Yale,” said Alison Cole ’99, executive director of the Yale Alumni Association.
“Among the finalists we got to know during a rigorous search process,” Cole said, “Pippa emerged as the candidate with the special blend of vision, background, creativity, and leadership experience we were looking for. I’m excited to partner with her to engage our alumni and our campus community through the print magazine we all love and to develop a truly robust digital presence. We’ll be connecting with alumni as we explore the next chapter in the history of our distinguished magazine.”
Jack starts Sept. 1. She will report to Cole.
Yale Alumni Magazine, published bimonthly, distributes to more than 135,000 alumni of Yale.
Jack grew up in Oxford, England, the daughter of two professors: a philosopher from New England and a neuroscientist from New Zealand. In seven years as the editor and publisher of Brown’s magazine, a 125-year-old publication with a proud tradition of editorial excellence, she increased digital engagement through an award-winning new website and e-newsletter, and grew revenue. In 2024, she led the print magazine to top honors from CASE (the Council on Advancement and Support of Education), winning the national “gold” award among alumni magazines publishing three or more issues annually.
Previously, Jack was editor-in-chief of the University of Rhode Island Magazine, where she led a redesign and rebrand to help the magazine adapt to shifting technologies and reading habits. She also held senior editorial positions at Rhode Island Monthly magazine and the Block Island Times.
“I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to become part of the Yale community as leader of the wonderful Yale Alumni Magazine,” she said. “I’m especially excited to meet more of the amazing people who make Yale what it is — a place both steeped in history and brimming with promise for the future — and to help the magazine continue its award-winning tradition of communicating Yale’s impact near and far, from the new knowledge and scholarship that Yalies create every day to the amazing variety of initiatives that its graduates undertake in every corner of the globe.”
Jack attended Oxford University, where she studied classics, and later earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Cole expressed thanks to the members of the YAM search committee and other campus partners who helped identify the new editor. The committee members were :
· Renee Kopkowski (co-chair), vice president for communications
· Emily Bakemeier, vice provost for arts and faculty affairs
· Eric Gershon, assistant vice president, editorial
· Kaela Heaslip, senior director for communications and marketing, Yale Alumni Association
· Paul McKinley ’96 MFA, senior associate dean of strategic initiatives and communications, Yale College
· Karen Seto, Frederick C. Hixon Professor of Geography and Urbanization Science, Director of the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability
· Amy Stevens ’84, chair, Yale Alumni Magazine Editorial Advisory Board
