From the Managing Editor

By Henry Muller

This space is usually reserved for the publisher of TIME, but on occasion I take the liberty of borrowing it. This is one such occasion. I'm very pleased to introduce our new publisher, Elizabeth P. Valk. She succeeds Robert L. Miller, who will be moving to California as president of Time Publishing Ventures, parent organization of the Time Inc. magazines that are not based in New York City.

The relationship between TIME's publisher and managing editor is very ^ special. They are equals, with the publisher being responsible for the magazine's financial well-being and the M.E. for its editorial content and quality. We usually refer to this division, in which neither lightly intrudes on the other's responsibilities, as "church and state." The separation is anything but a source of divisiveness. Instead, it serves as proof that good fences make good neighbors, enabling publisher and managing editor to work as partners toward common goals. That mutual trust is one of the pillars of the success that Time Inc. magazines have enjoyed; it is essential for TIME as the magazine faces the challenges of journalism in the '90s.

Lisa Valk, 41, knows TIME well. This will be her third tour with the magazine; as she said the other day, "It's almost like coming home." A native of Winston-Salem, N.C., she studied political science at Virginia's Hollins College, where she proudly serves as a trustee. After working as a hospital administrator in Boston, she enrolled at Harvard's Graduate School of Business Administration and in 1979 joined TIME's circulation staff. Six years later, after stints with two of our sister magazines, FORTUNE and SPORTS ILLUSTRATED, she returned to TIME as circulation director, where she helped ensure that TIME maintained the number of subscribers that it guaranteed to advertisers. On the strength of her strong performance in that job, Valk was named publisher of LIFE in 1986 and then of PEOPLE in 1988. She is the first executive to have served as publisher of three Time Inc. magazines.

We will miss Bob Miller's hand at the business helm. In his four years at TIME he brought intelligence and vigor to the magazine's worldwide activities, demanding the best of us all. I'm delighted to have Lisa as my new partner.