News

Senior Staff Shifts at Abrams
John F. Baker -- 10/9/00

Paul Gottlieb, longtime president and publisher of Harry Abrams, is to become vice-chairman of the parent La Martiniere Group of Paris in a reorganization announced by group chairman Herve de la Martiniere.

With Gottlieb's promotion, the Abrams senior staff will be reconfigured under de la Martiniere as CEO, who intends to become more involved in the management and organization of the art publisher. Alan Rutsky, as president and chief operating officer, will be in charge of administrative and financial management; Mark Magowan, who came aboard recently from Abbeville, will be in charge of books and other products as v-p and publisher, beginning January 1, 2001; and Amy Rhodes, as v-p and sales and marketing director, will continue to be in charge of overall sales activities.

Gottlieb had asked to retire from his principal posts at age 65, and de la Martiniere said Gottlieb would now assist in plans for international development and help maintain and expand the company's significant relationships with world museums.

Gottlieb has headed Abrams since 1980, and during that time he greatly expanded its program of publishing museum catalogues, pioneered in publishing books on celebrated Russian collections and recently developed a children's line. It was he who two years ago helped arrange the sale of Abrams, then owned by Times Mirror, to the French group.