Robert Safian is editor-in-chief and managing director of the influential, award-winning business magazine Fast Company and its digital and live-event affiliates. He oversees all editorial operations and plays a key role in guiding the enterprise’s advertising, marketing, and consumer-engagement efforts. Under Safian’s leadership, Fast Company has received numerous accolades, including the highly coveted National Magazine Award for Magazine of the Year in 2014. Named Editor of the Year by Adweek in 2009, Safian has also served as an executive editor for Time and Fortune and headed Money as its chief editor for six years.
Under Safian’s direction, Fast Company has garnered a reputation for highlighting the “new” in business while keeping reverence to “tried and true.” Whether exploring a startup in Detroit or the tech scene in Palo Alto, an innovator in Singapore or an iconoclast in Mumbai, Fast Company consistently adopts a fresh and honest take on business. By presenting stories of the people behind innovative business thinking, it gives hope to millions of workers, entrepreneurs, and leaders that meaningful change is possible.
Safian has appeared on CBS, CNN, CNBC, MSNBC and other TV networks and has been a featured speaker at events ranging from SxSW Interactive to the Cisco Systems CIO Summit, the United Nation’s Global Accelerators Council to the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival.
Safian began his career with a seven-year tenure at The American Lawyer, where he rose from summer intern to executive editor. He joined SmartMoney in 1994 and moved to Fortune in 1997. Money was a National Magazine Finalist four times under Safian's leadership and he played key roles in securing National Magazine Awards for The American Lawyer, SmartMoney, and TIME. He joined Fast Company in 2007.
