Conde Nast has turned to the one-time publisher of Glamour, fired earlier this year, to become the new vice president of the Conde Nast Media Group.
When Suzanne Grimes was terminated as Glamour publisher last April by new Conde Nast CEO Charles Townsend, she admitted to being “beyond surprised.”
That was nothing compared to the call she got from Richard “Mad Dog” Beckman, the new president of the Conde Nast Media Group – which handles group ad sales to large advertisers – asking her if she wanted to return to the Newhouse media empire.
She sounded out others in the industry. “After talking and talking about it, I said yes,” she said.
“I guess you could call it the luck of the Irish,” said Grimes, who is related to the family that once ran the weekly Irish Echo.
The Conde Nast Media Group, which was recently enlarged, handles group ad sales for stalwarts such as Vogue, Glamour, the New Yorker and Vanity Fair. It also links into the Sunday magazine Parade and the Conde Net online unit, as well as Fairchild and Golf Digest Companies.
When Grimes was fired, it was one of the first major moves made by new Conde Nast CEO Charles Townsend.
Grimes was on vacation in Nantucket when she got the call from Beckman about returning.
She said Beckman had assured her that management was on board with the prospect of her return.
“It was all about the future, there was no discussion about the past,” she said.
So does this mean that the new Conde Nast will be a kinder, gentler place?
“Well, I don’t know about that,” said Grimes. “I’m going back to a job that is very separate from what I was doing as publisher of a large magazine and launching small magazines.”
Grimes, who spent seven years with the company the first time around, was the launch publisher of Women’s Sports & Fitness and earlier Allure at Conde Nast.
She starts the new gig on Monday.