Adam Rothberg, who has headed corporate communications at Simon & Schuster since 1999, will retire at the end of July.
In a letter to employees announcing Rothberg’s pending departure, S&S CEO Jonathan Karp cited Rothberg’s key role as spokesperson for the company, both external and internal. “Adam has been the one to make our public comments more graceful and gracious and our written remarks more thoughtful and memorable,” wrote Karp. “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.”
Karp, who took over as CEO in March 2020 after the sudden death of Carolyn Reidy, was particularly appreciative of Rothberg’s work during the nearly three-year process that saw S&S’s initial acquisition by Penguin Random House blocked and a new sale to KKR finalized in 2023. During that time, Rothberg also oversaw preparations for the publisher’s 100th anniversary celebration, which is being marked this year with several events.
Karp, who knows how to spin a phrase himself, called Rothberg “a superb wordsmith and communicator,” and confessed that, 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.”
Rothberg began his career at S&S in 1985, in the publicity department of Pocket Books. He left the publisher in 1994 to become director of publicity at Villard Books/Random House, but returned to S&S in 1999 to work in corporate communications for then-CEO Jack Romanos. In addition to his duties, including as the publisher's primary communicator with the media, Rothberg has overseen S&S’s philanthropic activities, “reinforcing,” Karp added, “our dedication as a company to champion literacy and freedom of speech, and to support authors, booksellers, and members of our greater community who are in need.”
"For nearly 40 years I have been fortunate to work in a business that I love, and to play my part in bringing great books into the world," Rothberg told PW. "I am grateful to have worked alongside so many dedicated, smart and talented colleagues, and to have made so many good friends along the way."
