After spending 17 years with the Layton, Utah-based Gibbs Smith Publishers, Christopher Robbins has resigned as CEO and said he is launching a new publishing business with his wife Michele.
“I have enjoyed the last 17 years working on behalf of the company in this book business,” Robbins said. “It is a wonderful business, filled with marvelous people and life-changing ideas. Gibbs Smith is filled with talented people who are capable of handling any challenge and taking advantage of every opportunity. [It} is truly a fantastic place to work and I am forever grateful to have played a part.”
When reached by telephone, company president Gibbs Smith said that he has known of Robbins’ plans to resign “for quite a while.” The press specializes in design, cooking, art, children’s, Western regional, crafts, and gardening books and was founded by Smith in 1970. “Other management people on our staff will be taking up various parts of Christopher’s responsibilities,” he said. “We will ask certain people to do more.” At this time Smith is unsure about maintaining the position of CEO within the company. “I’ve always been interested in the idea of an artist’s studio or workshop as an environment in which to run a company,” he said. “I’d like to cultivate and create an unusual management structure.”
What this means exactly remains to be seen, but Smith added that further announcements about both his books and the company’s business framework post-Robbins will be forthcoming.
Robbins may be reached at Christopher@familius.com.
