Martha Nelson, a top executive of People and InStyle magazines, has been named editorial director at Time, thus promoting her to the second highest executive position at the company.

Nelson will report to John Huey, editor-in-chief of Time, the company said in a statement.

In her new role, she will oversee managing editors of the Style and Entertainment Group that publishes magazines such as InStyle, People, Essence and Entertainment Weekly, and the Lifestyle Group, including Southern Living and Cooking Light, as well as Real Simple and the Wal-Mart magazine All You.

The managing editors of the News & Sports Group will continue to report to Huey. Nelson will not have a role managing those magazines.

This appointment is the most significant move by new Time chief executive Jack Griffin, who was recruited from Meredith Corp to take over from Ann Moore in August.

Nelson has been with Time Inc for 17 years during which he served as the launch editor of InStyle and as the managing editor of People, which is the most profitable magazine in the company.