Playboy Announces Richard Rosenzweig Will Assume New Consulting Role

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 26, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (PEI) today announced that long-time executive Richard Rosenzweig will be moving to a consulting arrangement with the company effective September 30, 2011.  Rosenzweig, who joined Playboy in 1958, currently serves as executive vice president of PEI and a member of the company's board of directors as well as chairman of Alta Loma Productions, Playboy's mainstream production company.  

Playboy Founder and Editor-in-Chief Hugh M. Hefner said:  "Dick's decision is bittersweet for all of us at Playboy and for me in particular.  Dick has worked with me since the early days of the magazine in Chicago, and since that time he has been my trusted advisor and business partner.  I understand and applaud Dick's desire to devote more energy to his many philanthropic and civic interests as well as to spend more time with his wife Judy Henning, and I am pleased that he has agreed to continue providing insight and strategic counsel to me and the company on a part-time basis."

Under the terms of the agreement, Rosenzweig, 76, will work as a senior advisor to the company and to Hefner and PEI CEO Scott Flanders.  Rosenzweig will retain an office at the Playboy Mansion. He also will remain a member of the company's board of directors, non-executive chair of the Playboy Jazz Festival and Alta Loma Entertainment and an executive producer of NBC's new series The Playboy Club, which premiered September 19.

Scott Flanders said:  "When I joined Playboy two years ago, I quickly came to appreciate Dick's unique position in the company and the perception and understanding he brought to every issue.  Dick was critically important in the successful completion of the going-private transaction in March of this year. He has served the company well, both as an effective manager and a loyal employee and will continue to have a major effect on the company's future in his new role."

After joining Playboy in 1958 as assistant to the vice president of advertising, Rosenzweig held a variety of positions subsequently including, in 1963, a stint as executive assistant to Mr. Hefner.  In 1975, after serving as senior vice president and director of marketing, Rosenzweig was appointed executive vice president of the Publishing Group, the company's largest division.  He reorganized the magazine and launched new publications as well as numerous international editions. In 1977, he moved to Los Angeles where he was given responsibility for all West Coast operations. He was elected to his current post in 1982.

Throughout his career, Rosenzweig maintained a wide range of outside interests and activities, in many cases taking leadership roles in the related organizations.  He helped found Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art and was a director of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations and the Chicago International Film Festival.  Shortly after moving to the West Coast, he was appointed by Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. to the Economic and Business Development Council of California. Rosenzweig later served as chairman of the Beverly Hills Visitors Bureau, the Economic Development Council of Beverly Hills and as president and long-time board member of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce and Civic Association.

As a well-respected member of the Southern California philanthropic community, Rosenzweig served as a board member of numerous organizations including Children of the Night, the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, and as president and, later, chairman of the Maple Counseling Center in Beverly Hills, a nationally recognized community counseling facility. Rosenzweig was a founder of the Museum of Contemporary Art and was chairman of both the Modern and Contemporary Art Council of the Los Angeles County Art Museum and the Beverly Hills Fine Arts Commission.  He continues to serve as an officer and board member of the Music Center's Fraternity of Friends and is both a director and president of the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.  

In addition to those directorships listed above, Rosenzweig also served on the following boards:

A native of Appleton, Wisconsin, Rosenzweig received a B.S. degree from Northwestern University School of Communication.  After graduation, he served in the U.S. Army's Psychological Warfare Battalion.  Rosenzweig worked briefly for Dun and Bradstreet, Inc. before joining Playboy.  During his career at PEI, he also completed the Harvard Business School's Senior Executive Program.

Rosenzweig received a range of awards related to his philanthropic and civic works including:

About Playboy Enterprises, Inc.

Playboy is one of the most recognized and popular consumer brands in the world. Playboy Enterprises, Inc. is a media and lifestyle company that markets the brand through a wide range of media properties and licensing initiatives. The company publishes Playboy magazine in the United States and abroad and creates content for distribution via television networks, websites, mobile platforms and radio. Through licensing agreements, the Playboy brand appears on a wide range of consumer products in more than 150 countries as well as retail stores and entertainment venues.

SOURCE Playboy Enterprises, Inc.