Design and decorating title Traditional Home announced today that Jon Walker will serve as the magazine’s home furnishings manager.  Walker has been working as direct account manager on Traditional Home and Midwest Living for the past three years.  His new role will task him with overseeing all home furnishing accounts that work directly with interior designers and architects.

Traditional Home publisher Beth Brenner cited Walker’s experience as the main factor for the promotion:

“In his three years as Direct Account Manager here at Meredith, Jon has excelled, posting year-over-year increases and new business wins in the most challenging of times.  In his new role, he will increase our visibility, credibility, and ad lineage among the all-important design trade accounts.”

Walker will report to Traditional Home‘s associate publisher Blaire Rzempoluch.  He gets started in his new position on Nov. 22.

It’s not quite the media bailout some of us were hoping for, but the State Department is asking magazines for their help with holiday decor.

Today, Nina Link of the Magazine Publishers of America stood with State Protocol Ambassador Capricia Penavic Marshall and announced that the two organizations are teaming up to create a festive re-imagining for two historical buildings in D.C.

The magazines will work with the State Department to create the “Magazine Holiday Design Showcase,” wherein each participating title gets a different section of the Harry S. Truman Building and the receiving rooms of the Blair House to showcase the historic structure’s rich and cultured history. Better Homes & Gardens will be taking over the Blair back room and house garden, while the building’s dining room will be designed by Martha Stewart Living (including “a Confectionery Tree covered in lollipop and sugar cookie ornaments” — yum).

Other participating magazines include This Old House, Mother Earth News, Natural Home and Traditional Home.

Full press release after the jump.

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Magazine publisher Meredith Corp. today promoted Chief Revenue Officer Tom Harty to president overseeing the house’s consumer magazines. He will retain his CRO title as well as the position of executive vice president of Meredith Publishing Group, the company said.

But, in addition to overseeing company-wide sales efforts and various media networks — including the Parents Network, Ladies’ Home Journal, Fitness, Traditional Home, Midwest Living and Hispanic Ventures, which includes four Spanish-language magazines — Harty will also be assuming control over editorial and creative functions for the company’s New York-based titles.

According to Meredith Publishing Group President Jack Griffin, Harty was integral to Meredith’s recent success.

“Under his direction, Meredith Magazines has grown its advertising market share considerably during this period, especially for the first half of 2009, when our share of magazine advertising in our competitive set is up four percentage points over 2008,” Griffin said.

One of Harty’s innovations was Meredith 360°, a “cross-media integration business unit,” that helped grow and expand Meredith’s Corporate Sales and Marketing efforts.

Harty, who joined Meredith in 2004, previously worked as senior vice president and general manager for the Golf Digest Companies, which are owned by Advance Magazines, a division of Conde Nast. He has also held positions at TV Guide, Reader’s Digest, McCall’s, Forbes and publisher Gruner & Jahr USA.

Full release after the jump

Related: Move Aside Alpha Males, Gamma Women Are The Latest Marketing Tool For Meredith

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