Overview
Nina Link is a transformational CEO and board director. She brings 30 years of leadership experience navigating industry disruption, re-engineering legacy organizations, and advising early-stage entrepreneurial companies to achieve financial, strategic, and operational success. At The ExCo Group, she has mentored senior executives in the engineering, retail, oil and energy, professional services, and banking industries.
"We don’t have a culture here to take any time for yourself. While we’ve done a lot for partner development in the past 10 years, there’s not a connection between [the offerings]. And it’s not really a connection between the role and the person. Focusing so deeply on myself in my current role and considering my future roles is invaluable."
– Executive, World’s Largest Professional Services Firm
Career History
In addition to her work at The ExCo Group, Link has served on the boards of the Ad Council, New York University’s Center for Publishing, and the International Federation of Periodical Press (FIPP).
Throughout her career, Link has brought her unique blend of entrepreneurship and business acumen, working and partnering with companies in the media, business consulting, supply chain, data analysis, engineering, and private equity industries.
Most recently, Link served as president and CEO of MPA – The Association of Magazine Media (formerly Magazine Publishers of America) and held the role for 13 years, longer than anyone in the organization’s history. During her tenure, she led the organization’s efforts to promote the vitality of the magazine industry to the advertising, marketing, and financial communities, the press, and the public. Her track record of success was leading through a period of significant change, including the dot-com bust and recession of the early 2000s, the transformational shift to electronic media, and board member turnover, along with rebranding and repositioning MPA. In addition, she oversaw the creation of the first e-reading conference for magazines (two weeks before the original iPad went on sale) as well as the industry’s first awards program honoring excellence on digital platforms.
Link enjoyed more than 20 years as a senior executive with Sesame Workshop (formerly Children’s Television Workshop), where she advanced from the editorial director of two magazines to Group President, Publishing and Interactive Software, responsible for the leadership of the magazine, book, database, interactive software, school, and internet divisions. She diversified the interactive business into new electronic formats, including video games, hybrid toys, and hand-held electronics, and led numerous licensing agreements. In addition, she created the digital strategic business plan and oversaw the launch of the family Internet site ctw.org.
Personal
Link has received two national magazine awards and the “Bpeace Women Forward Mentor of Distinction Award.” She is married with four grown children.
