Adam Rothberg, longtime head of corporate communications at Simon & Schuster, is retiring at the end of July.
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| Adam Rothberg | |
He began his publishing career in 1985 in the publicity department of Pocket Books. From 1994 to 1999, he was director of publicity at Villard Books/Random House, but then returned to S&S to work in corporate communications for the past 25 years, with the current title of senior v-p, corporate communications. He has also overseen the company's philanthropic activities and conducted publicity campaigns for quite a few books, including Into Thin Air and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, The Unlikely Spy by Daniel Silva, The Proud Highway by Hunter S. Thompson, By George by George Foreman, and Rage to Survive by Etta James.
In an announcement to staff, S&S president and CEO Jonathan Karp praised Rothberg for having "long personified the voice and spirit of Simon & Schuster." For Karp--and previous CEOs Jack Romanos and Carolyn Reidy--Rothberg "has been the one to make our public comments more graceful and gracious and our written remarks more thoughtful and memorable," Karp continued. "Adam's empathetic and strategic approach to his work has informed our policies and helped make Simon & Schuster's leadership more connected to the concerns of our employees and authors. These qualities have been especially critical over the past few years as we navigated the sale process, our transition to new ownership, and the establishment of Simon & Schuster as an independent, standalone publishing company.
"On numerous occasions, Adam has correctly anticipated the questions we might hear--internally or externally--and framed constructive responses. Some people in Adam's line of work are good at putting out fires, but Adam is so attuned to the subtleties of the publishing business that he's often on the scene before there's even a puff of smoke."
Karp also called Rothberg "a superb wordsmith and communicator. During one of the many political book controversies of 2020 and 2021, it was Adam who wrote, 'We come to work each day to publish, not cancel.' It has always bothered me that I got credit for that artful phrasing; it was Adam's."
We at Shelf Awareness have enjoyed working with Adam these many years. He's always been straightforward, communicative, personable, and informative. We wish him well in retirement!