'Kiplinger's' Names New Editor

Kiplinger's Personal Finance has named a new editor to succeed Fred W. Frailey, who's retiring. Janet Bodnar, a three-decade veteran of the title, moves up from deputy editor, a role she's filled for the past three years. She becomes one of the very few female top editors of a business or investing magazine.

Not surprisingly, Kiplinger's isn't having such a hot year on the ad front. Through September, its pages were down 13.6 percent to 308.7. (It hasn't been hit as hard as SmartMoney, however, which is down 25.7 percent.)

Here's the memo.

Washington, D.C. (November 17, 2008)--Janet Bodnar, deputy editor of Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine since 2005, has been named its new editor, succeeding retiring editor Fred W. Frailey.

Bodnar came to Kiplinger's as a writer in 1979, following jobs at The Providence Journal and Washington Post newspapers. She is a nationally recognized columnist, book author and speaker in the field of children's and women's finances, as well as other financial topics.

Fred Frailey, a former newspaperman and assistant managing editor at U.S. News and World Report, came to Kiplinger's in 1987 and led the magazine as editor for eight years. The author of several books on investing, Frailey recruited to Kiplinger's several high-profile columnists, including Wharton School finance professor Jeremy Siegel and James K. Glassman of the American Enterprise Institute. He also oversaw the integration of Kiplinger's print and Web content in personal finance.

"Fred Frailey is handing over to Janet Bodnar a magazine at the peak of its editorial vitality, serving our 800,000 subscribers and millions of Web visitors with compelling content," said Knight Kiplinger, editor in chief and president of the parent company. Kiplinger's magazine created the field of personal-finance publishing at its founding in 1947.

Bodnar is the second woman to head Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine, following Marjorie White's six-year editorship in the 1980s. A graduate of St. Bonaventure University, Bodnar earned a master's degree in journalism from Columbia University, where she was later a Knight-Bagehot fellow in business and economic journalism.

Her "Money-Smart Kids" column appears regularly in Kiplinger's and on Kiplinger.com. She is also the kids-and-money coach on the AOL Coaches site. Her book Raising Money Smart Kids (Kaplan Publishing) is a selection of the Washington Post's Color of Money book club.

Bodnar has appeared on Oprah, Today, Good Morning America, The Early Show on CBS, and Fox, CNN and PBS networks. She has done hundreds of radio and TV interviews and appears regularly on WUSA, the CBS-TV affiliate in Washington, D.C., and WTOP, the major all-news radio station in Washington. She is a popular speaker and has been quoted in publications ranging from The Wall Street Journal and Institutional Investor to Parents and Glamour. Bodnar is married and the mother of three grown children.

Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine has been providing millions of Americans with down-to-earth advice on managing their money and achieving financial security since 1947. Along with Kiplinger.com, it is a highly trustworthy source of information on saving and investing, taxes, credit, homeownership, paying for college, retirement planning, car buying and many other personal finance topics.