Susie Banikarim will be named Editorial Director for Gizmodo Media Group later today, Axios has learned. She will oversee all editorial operations for Gizmodo's eight sites — Gizmodo, Deadspin, the newly-rebranded Splinter, Jezebel, Kotaku, Lifehacker, Jalopnik and The Root. She's previously held senior roles at ABC News, Newsweek Daily Beast, and Vocativ.
Why it matters: Banikarim's hire is a reflection of GMG's commitment to diversity (highlighted here by Poynter) across the board, a problem most media companies are grappling with and aiming to fix. She represents women of color, speaks a variety of languages and has a foreign background. (Born in Iran, Susie spoke Farsi and French before she learned English, though she admits she's since forgotten most of the French.)
Go deeper: Banikarim will oversee a portfolio of assets that has a high concentration of young readers. The majority of Gizmodo's sites top the list of news sites with the highest percentage of millennial web traffic, according to Quantcast.