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The former general manager of Hachette Filipacchi's women’s titles has been charged with expanding WGSN in the emerging markets of China, India and SouthEast Asia.

Emap hopes she can replicate the business’s success in the West, where it is the market-leading service for fashion businesses and retailers, thanks to exhaustive trend and forecast data.

Harris takes up the newly created role this month, initially working out of WGSN's London office before relocating to Hong Kong. She reports to WGSN managing director Steve Newbold.

"The reason for my appointment is to grow the business," Harris said. "Asia is a region where fashion manufacturing and retail are growing and there is a huge opportunity – we have a relatively low penetration in the East."

WGSN's Asia-Pacific operation employs about 30 people. Harris will be responsible for increasing and renewing business across the region and recruiting staff accordingly.

At WGSN, she will work closely with the fashion service’s new Japanese management team to ensure that its offer is consistent across the region.

Harris will be assisted by Mark Lepine, who was recently appointed commercial director.
In the West, WGSN has outperformed Emap’s expectations, becoming its biggest B2B brand with 2,200 subscribers since its acquisition from founders Marc and Julian Worth in 2005.

Harris left Hachette Filipacchi in March without taking up a role elsewhere. She joined the publisher in September 2002 when it set up its UK operations and oversaw the majority of its titles, including Red and Elle.

She was also responsible for managing the publisher’s digital business and new product development, launching Psychologies in 2005 and Elle Collections last year.

Prior to that, Harris was at Emap for 10 years in a variety of roles, including publishing director and commercial director of Emap Elan and commercial director of Emap Digital.

She will be joined in Hong Kong by her family, including husband Seth Hawthorne, who is the publisher of Dennis Publishing’s The Week. He will continue to work for the title as a consultant.