Viner
joined The Guardian in 1997 and has been its deputy editor as well as editor of
its Saturday edition.
Her
other roles include editor of its G2 supplement, deputy women's editor and
editor of its Weekend magazine.
"Being
editor-in-chief of the Guardian and Observer is an enormous privilege and
responsibility," Viner said in a statement.
She
was "honoured", she added, to be "leading a first class team of
journalists revered around the world for outstanding reporting, independent
thinking, incisive analysis and digital innovation".
Rusbridger, who has
edited The Guardian since 1995, said his successor would "bring immense
experience, flair, warmth, imagination and formidable energy" to her new
role.
The Scott Trust, owner
of the Guardian Media Group, chose Viner over one other candidate after a
seven-hour meeting.
Dame Liz Forgan,
outgoing chair of the trust, said Viner had "shown herself to be an
inspiring and courageous leader" with a "deep commitment to The
Guardian's traditions of plural, liberal journalism".
Viner was educated at
Ripon Grammar School in North Yorkshire and at Oxford University.
Earlier this month she
won 53% of votes in a staff ballot to choose the next editor.
Analysis: David Sillito, Media Correspondent
Kath Viner is the 11th
Guardian editor in 194 years, so this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
She was the staff's
favourite to take control and is, like her predecessors, a Guardian insider.
She was also just one
of three highly qualified female candidates in the running. For a paper that is
a champion of "left-liberal" values, appointing a woman sends an
important message.
There are four women
editing national papers, but she will be the only one in control of a quality
daily. Yet more important than gender is her expertise in the two areas that
will determine the paper's future.
The first is the
switch to digital. Print sales of The Guardian stand at around 175,000, but
digitally it has been making even more money than Mail Online.
Her recent speech on
the future of the newspaper in a digital world suggested this was a person who
grasped the magnitude of the shift that is underway.
The second is her
experience running Guardian operations in Australia and the USA.
The Guardian wants to
be global, and it's picked an editor who's got first-hand experience of how
tough that is going to be.
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