Wibke Grutjen
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Karp: ‘A More Unified Approach to Our Messaging’
As Publishing Perspectives‘ readers know, our coverage of personnel announcements in the world industry is limited to those of executive-level rank and those likely to have impact on the international industry and its key players.
Clearly fitting those criteria, Wibke Grutjen has been named by Simon & Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp as the company’s senior vice-president and global chief marketing and communications officer. Grutjen will report directly to Karp, and is to begin work with the company on August 5.
She comes to S&S from Hachette Book Group, at which she has been chief marketing officer since 2019.
Grutjen began her career in the United Kingdom with ARTbibliographies Modern in Oxford, now on the ProQuest platform. Having moved to the States in 2003, she worked in television production with the PBS affiliate WETA in Washington DC; ABC News; and the History Channel.
In 2007, she joined Penguin UK as head of business information, and in 2010 she joined the digital marketing department at Macmillan in New York City, ultimately rising to vice-president of digital marketing.
In announcing the news of Grutjen’s appointment on Tuesday (June 25), Karp said, “Wibke’s international background in media and marketing makes her an ideal choice for this new position, which will combine our corporate marketing and communications teams to establish a more unified approach to our messaging on behalf of our authors and their books throughout the world.
“Wibke possesses the vision, experience, acuity, and skill to lead Simon & Schuster’s superb marketing and communications departments through an increasingly sophisticated landscape of data analytics, artificial intelligence, ecommerce, targeted advertising, social media, and public relations.”
And Grutjen is quote, saying, “I’ve watched with admiration [Simon & Schuster’s] dynamic approach to delivering impactful multi-channel marketing campaigns and reaching consumers for their authors, while boldly pursuing innovation in a time of transition for their company and our industry. I look forward to working with them to take their stellar record of accomplishment to even greater levels.”
Grutjen’s masters’ degrees are from Oxford and the Free University of Berlin.
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