GLAAD chooses new leader: Sarah Kate Ellis

It was last May that Herndon Graddick stepped down as head of GLAAD after just over a year on the job.

It was for personal reasons that have never been revealed.

GLAAD has moved on and earlier today, announced that it has chosen a successor for Graddick who will start as CEO and President in January.

Her name is Sarah Kate Ellis and she was hired following a lengthy nationwide search.

Ellis is an award-winning media executive who worked at Time Inc. and most recently was Senior Vice President of Global Marketing at Martini Media, a digital firm specializing in online branding, public relations and marketing.

Here’s what she has to say in her first statement: “While our community has made great strides in recent years, our movement has an important and critical journey ahead. Together with our dedicated staff, I will push for a culture where everyone in the LGBT community is fully welcomed and respected by our neighbors. I look forward to leading GLAAD and creating a world where LGBT people and our families have the freedom to joyously– and openly– live a life they love.”

Ellis co-authored a memoir with her wife, Kristen Ellis-Henderson, titled Times Two, Two Women in Love and the Happy Family They Made, released by Simon & Schuster. The autobiography chronicled their simultaneous pregnancies and road to motherhood.