Wibke Grutjen Named Global Chief Marketing and Communications Manager at S&S

Wibke Grutjen has been named SVP and global chief marketing and communications manager at Simon & Schuster, effective August 5. She will also join the S&S executive committee and will report to president and CEO Jonathan Karp.

Grutjen comes to S&S from Hachette Book Group, where she has served as chief marketing officer since 2019. In her new role, Grutjen is taking over as head of communications from Adam Rothberg, who is retiring July 31, and replaces corporate marketing chief Liz Perl who retired in early February.

Grutjen started her career in the U.K. as an editor of ARTbibliographies Modern in Oxford, England. After moving to the U.S. in 2003, she worked in television production at ABC News, The History Channel, and other networks. In 2007, she joined Penguin UK as head of business information, and in 2010 she joined the digital marketing department at Macmillan Publishers in New York, ultimately rising to VP of digital marketing.

“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,” said Jonathan Karp in a statement.