Eric Gillin is the executive director of epicurious, overseeing digital and content strategy, as well as the head of product for the Food Innovation Group, running digital product strategy across both Epicurious and Bon Appétit.
In February 2015, Gillin relaunched the Epicurious brand and website, attracting top industry talent and building a team to create the ultimate food resource. The results were near-instant. Less than a year later, Epicurious traffic had more than doubled, attracting 18MM UVs in December 2015, driven by a thousand-fold increase in video and a three-fold increase in social media traffic.
In the year since relaunch, the site won a 2015 People’s Voice Webby Award for Outstanding Food & Drink Website, launched the Smart Timer for Apple Watch, and built out a video business that’s one of the largest in food media. In November 2015, Gillin was named to the Adweek 50, the trade publication’s annual list of the 50 most indispensable executives in media.
Prior to joining Condé Nast in 2012, Gillin was a digital jack-of-all trades at Hearst, where he ran content strategy and developed products for a wide portfolio of brands, winning the Hearst Innovation Award in 2010. He was Esquire’s first full-time web editor and ultimately became the first director of the Hearst Men’s Network. Additionally, he relaunched Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, and developed apps for House Beautiful, Marie Claire, and Country Living. Prior to his six-year stint at Hearst, he was the entertainment editor for Maxim magazine for two years, interviewing Mick Jagger and other celebrities.
He got his start reporting for TheStreet.com and graduated from Syracuse University’s esteemed S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, which later named him to their Professional Hall of Fame in 2012. But Gillin’s breakthrough really came in 2003, when he and four friends launched BlackTable.com, a widely-respected pop-culture ‘zine, from his living room.
