For almost six years this column has been the territory of Ralph Davidson. This week I am taking it over in order to report two important new executive assignments, including Davidson's. He is leaving the publisher's chair to join the office of President James R. Shepley. His assignment, as Shepley wrote in a memo to the staff, will be "to share the duties of my office and familiarize himself with all of Time Inc.'s major lines of business."

No problems of acclimatization are expected: Davidson thrives on change, as his personal history at Time Inc. makes clear. A native New Mexican who went west to study international relations at Stanford and then traveled abroad extensively as a Marshall Plan worker, he joined TIME in 1954 and held a number of executive positions in Europe with the magazine's international editions. He moved to New York in 1967 as managing director of Time International, became an associate publisher of the entire magazine, and was named publisher in 1972. During his stewardship TIME has enjoyed a period of revenue growth in both advertising and circulation that stands as one of the most impressive in the magazine's 55 years of publication. Editorially TIME has reached new levels of excellence and verve, heightened by a dramatic increase in the use of color photography. And with approximately 28 million readers in 197 countries, it remains the most influential magazine in the world.

I am delighted to announce that Davidson's successor is John A. Meyers, who for the past six years has been publisher of SPORTS ILLUSTRATED. A native of Illinois with a B.A. from. Michigan State's School of Journalism, Meyers served with distinction as a U.S. Marine in the Korean War. His 23-year career with Time Inc. has included posts as TIME'S associate publisher and advertising sales director, as well as the one he will continue to hold as a vice president of the company. A man of modesty and personal warmth who hastens to introduce himself as Jack and talks quietly of doing "the job at hand," Meyers has humanitarian concerns beyond the magazine; among other commitments, he serves as a member of the national board of the Foundation for Children with Learning Disabilities.

Interestingly enough, the words I would choose to describe Meyers are similar to those he uses to describe the TIME reader he will begin addressing in this column next week. Says Meyers: "He's what you'd call a person of action, looking for new horizons, never complacent. He's someone you'd like to know."

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