Hearst Interactive Media / Our Team / Beth Polish

Beth Polish created and directs the Hearst Corporate Innovation program, whose mandate is to create new businesses based on ideas from within Hearst Corporation and to foster a company-wide culture of innovation, and heads the Innovation Leadership Council. As Hearst Innovation selects business ideas to fund, she oversees their development and preparation for further funding and launch as standalone businesses. She joined Hearst as a consultant in early 2008 and full-time in 2009.

Polish has held senior management positions in media, finance, private investment, and technology. An expert at leading companies through startup, growth stage, merger and acquisition, and turnaround, she was founding CFO of iVillage, president of Dreamlife (co-founded by Tony Robbins), CFO of Goldman Sachs Ventures, and managing director at KPMG.

She has raised capital from leading venture capitalists throughout out the US and Japan. Immediately prior to joining Hearst she was principal of the Critical Junctures Group, a consulting firm providing company-building expertise focused on strategy, business development, fundraising and interim management. She is adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at NYU and a frequent speaker on entrepreneurship, strategy and business finance at conferences around the country.

Polish received her AB in anthropology from Franklin & Marshall College and her MBA from Harvard Business School.