Paul Taylor, senior vice president of Hearst and president, chief executive officer and group head of Fitch Group, has been elected to Hearst’s board of directors. The announcement was made by Steven R. Swartz, president and CEO of Hearst and William R. Hearst III, chairman of the board.
With this election, there are now 22 members of the board of directors, elected by the trustees of the Hearst Family Trust.
In April 2012, Taylor was appointed president and chief executive officer of Fitch Group, a leading provider of essential financial information and services to the global financial markets. He previously served as president of Fitch Ratings, the group’s largest business and a leading provider of credit ratings, commentary and research. Prior to this appointment in 2010, he spent two years as global head of structured finance ratings and has held a variety of analytical leadership positions at Fitch Ratings.
Fitch Ratings received an Environmental Finance Sustainable Investment Award for the Most Transparent Credit Ratings Agency in 2019. It also received first place for GlobalCapital Bond Awards’ 2019 Best Rating Agency for Emerging Market Bonds.
Taylor joined Fitch predecessor firm Duff & Phelps Credit Rating Co. in 1994 as senior vice president in charge of European ratings activities. His final role prior to DCR’s merger with Fitch Ratings in 2000 was executive vice president of DCR International. Before that, he was a director and head of European structured finance for Standard & Poor’s ratings group. He began his career in corporate lending at Lloyds Bank Limited.
Taylor has a degree in management and marketing from the University of Lancaster, where he is an active alumnus and member of the dean’s council.
