In her new position, she will be a business development adviser to Emap Consumer Media, focusing on new products, brand development and strategies.
Matthews launched eight magazines during her time at the company, including Bliss, Closer and last year's women's weekly First, and sat on the ECM board.
She also led the reinvention of Heat in 2000, turning an ailing entertainment magazine selling fewer than 50,000 copies a week into the celebrity juggernaut whose circulation is close to breaking the 600,000 barrier.
After Dawn Bebe, managing director of Emap Elan, and David Pullan, strategic marketing and brand development director, Matthews is the third senior manager to leave Emap in the past six months during a company restructure involving 175 redundancies.
She is also the second high-profile women's magazines publisher to stand down in recent weeks, after Julie Harris, who previously worked under her at Emap, left her role as general manager of women's magazines at Hachette Filipacchi.
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