Chris Maillard

Chris Maillard moves across editorial, brand and publishing work with a broad trade skillset shaped by magazine editing, reporting and brand journalism on both the publishing and agency sides. His career is threaded by editorial movement, but the constant is control rather than restlessness. He has worked at MVF Global and as editor-in-chief at Decanter, bringing together experience from magazine editing, reporting and brand-side work into senior roles that depend on structure, tone and audience discipline.

At Maxim, he worked as editor in a setting where pace, polish and precision had to hold at once. He then shifted into launch work as launch editor at BBC Top Gear magazine and launch editor at Restaurant magazine, roles that require judgement at the point where a title is still being defined. That launch experience runs through the rest of his record, with a focus on establishing identity, setting rhythm and deciding how a publication speaks.

Reporting and agency-side work widened the frame behind the editing. As a journalist at Sky magazine, he added reporting to the editorial mix, while Interbrand and WGSN gave him agency-side experience. Together, these roles extend the job beyond pages and headlines into brand, audience and positioning. What sits behind the titles is a steady practice of turning ideas into usable copy while keeping teams and output aligned.

At Decanter, he has brought those strands together in a senior editorial role that has been in place since 2021. Magazine launches, reporting and brand-side work all feed into the same task there: holding editorial standards, reading tone accurately and keeping a long-established title legible to its audience. His work there reflects the same editorial priorities seen throughout his career, with attention to the existing brand, the team and the work needed to move it forward.

His signature work includes The World's 50 Best Restaurants and The Old Rockers' Handbook: All the mature musician needs. The pairing shows range within the same editorial register. One title sits inside the structure of global dining, while the other is a dry guide for an older musician. Both point to a preference for specialist subjects that still need to read clearly, with enough personality to keep the page moving. His own description of his skills follows the same line, focusing on research, explanation and writing things down in the right order.