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Condé Nast has named Adam Baidawi Global Editorial Director of GQ, effective immediately, placing him in charge of the brand’s editorial vision and content strategy across its global network of 12 owned-and-operated editions. His first print issue in the new role will be the September 2026 edition.
In the expanded remit, Baidawi will also oversee Pitchfork, which is led by Mano Sundaresan.
The move formalizes a global editorial leadership structure that centralizes strategy across multiple markets while keeping local editions publishing under a shared brand framework—a model increasingly used by multinational magazine groups as print, events, and digital publishing operate under integrated commercial and audience targets.
A global mandate across 12 owned-and-operated editions
Condé Nast said Baidawi will oversee GQ’s editorial direction across 12 owned-and-operated editions, positioning the Global Editorial Director role as the connective tissue between local editorial teams and group-wide priorities on audience, content mix, and brand identity. The role sits within the company’s centralized content governance model, in which group-level leaders are expected to balance local autonomy with standards on issues such as accuracy, conflicts of interest, and compliance with evolving media and advertising regulations.
That framework exists against the backdrop of wider press-freedom and media-plurality norms set out by bodies such as the Council of Europe’s media and information society standards, which increasingly shape how multinational publishers think about cross-border content, use of AI tools, and protections for journalists operating in different jurisdictions.
Anna Wintour, Chief Content Officer of Condé Nast, described the appointment as a fit for the current moment in culture and in the men’s lifestyle category.
“Adam makes perfect sense to lead GQ because he’s a writer and journalist first—a cultural thinker at a time when the culture needs to be thought through, and even interrogated a little. Having worked all over the world, he has a global sensibility, plenty of wit and style, and an easy collegiality with the editors he works with. This is someone GQ’s readers can expect to challenge received wisdom—about modern masculinity and the worlds of celebrity, sport, and fashion—and have a lot of fun doing so.”
Baidawi, in a statement, framed the job as both a continuation of GQ’s editorial legacy and a mandate to use the brand’s reach to shape cultural conversation: “It is the honor of my life to lead GQ into a new era, and to build on the legacy of the great editors I grew up admiring. GQ has remarkable power to define the conversations around style, culture and masculinity. I look forward to using that power in new and surprising ways. I’m grateful to Anna and to our global teams for their trust. We have ambitious work ahead.”
The appointment also comes as global lifestyle titles face heightened scrutiny around representation, advertising transparency, and the treatment of contributors and talent—areas where Condé Nast’s senior editors are increasingly seen as custodians of both creative direction and corporate accountability.
Pitchfork added to the portfolio
Alongside GQ, Condé Nast said Baidawi will oversee Pitchfork, with Mano Sundaresan continuing to lead the music publication.
For Condé Nast, coupling oversight of a men’s lifestyle brand with a specialist music title aligns two franchises that operate at the intersection of celebrity coverage, cultural criticism, and advertiser-supported publishing—while still serving distinct audiences and editorial missions. It also streamlines decision-making on questions such as how to label commercial partnerships, how to handle artist access and embargoes, and how to operate within national rules on advertising and consumer protection, including frameworks like the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive for European markets.
Baidawi’s recent roles and career path inside GQ
Baidawi has served as Deputy Global Editorial Director of GQ and Head of Editorial Content at British GQ since 2021. Condé Nast said that in that position he managed GQ’s global editorial leadership, strengthened alignment across editions, and drove editorial innovation and audience growth.
During his time overseeing the British GQ brand, Condé Nast said Baidawi delivered both editorial and commercial results, including doubling revenue on flagship events such as Men of the Year and GQ Heroes since his appointment. The company also credited him with overseeing covers including Paul Mescal, Malala, Charli XCX, Mo Salah, Andrew Garfield, and Pierce Brosnan—illustrating the breadth of cultural territory the brand now claims, from film and fashion to politics-adjacent storytelling and social impact profiles.
Before the UK role, Baidawi served as Editor-in-Chief of GQ Middle East from 2018 to 2021. Earlier in his career, he was a correspondent for The New York Times in Australia, and Condé Nast noted that his first GQ byline appeared in the brand’s Australian edition more than 15 years ago. That trajectory—from regional correspondent to regional editor and now global editorial lead—positions him as a key internal bridge between Condé Nast’s legacy print culture and its increasingly data-informed, platform-agnostic publishing strategy.
Baidawi begins as Global Editorial Director effective immediately, with his first print issue in the role scheduled for GQ’s September 2026 edition.
