Rodale head honcho Maria Rodale, who bills herself as a “cyber poet and CEO” on her Facebook page, found herself a president last week, but not a chief operating officer. The search for a COO is now being placed on “hold.”
She revealed she was looking to fill two high level executive jobs in a memo to staffers back in July.
Some said the move showed a push by the family-controlled board and its banking partners to bring some stability to the rapidly changing executive suite for the publisher of Men’s Health, Prevention and Runner’s World.
Maria Rodale insisted the move was designed to allow her to focus on long term strategy for the company, which is the largest family owned publisher in the country—now in its third generation of family control.
She hired Scott Schulman to be president. Schulman is a former Dow Jones executive who left the company a year ago.
Through the first nine months of the year, its magazines are said to be growing in ad pages at an 11 percent clip compared with a year earlier, making it one of the strongest performers in an industry that is barely keeping pace with last year’s numbers.
As for the other vacancy, Rodale said in her July memo, “The COO will focus on increasing our efficiency and prioritizing our organizational and technology requirements while helping to foster a culture of innovation and collaboration.”
A spokeswoman now says the COO search “is on hold for the moment.”