Vitale Named New Random House Chief
Alberto Vitale will become the new chairman, president and chief executive of Random House Inc., the largest general trade book publisher in the United States.
Vitale, 55, is currently president and chief executive of the Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc. He succeeds Robert L. Bernstein, who is retiring at the end of the year.
“Bob has built Random House into one of the world’s great publishing businesses,†Vitale said. “But at the same time . . . preserved the sense that Random House is still the firm that Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer founded many years ago--a place that cares about its authors, a place that retains a human scale despite its growth, a place where authors and employees come and stay.â€
Vitale will become the third leader of Random House in its 64-year history and will begin Jan. 3, the company said.
Vitale began his publishing career in 1975 when he joined Bantam Books Inc. as director of administration. He moved up to executive vice president in 1979 and in 1986 was named president and chief executive.
He was appointed to his present position in December, 1986, after Doubleday & Co. was acquired by Bertelsmann AG, the West German-based communications group.
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