Whither Christie’s? Steve Murphy, Auction Newbie, Takes the Helm

Steven Pleshette Murphy, Christie's new President and CEO

Veteran auction watchers are scratching their heads at yesterday's unexpected news that Christie's has tapped Steve Murphy, an American with no art-related background or auction-related experience, to be the London-based auction house's chief executive officer, "effective immediately." The official announcement was issued today by Patricia Barbizet, non-executive chairman of Christie's and CEO of Artemis, an investment group owned by French magnate François Pinault. (Christie's is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Artemis.)

Barbizet also announced that Edward Dolman, CEO of Christie's for almost 11 years, had been "promoted to chairman of Christie's International." He will "focus on business development [i.e., snaring consignments] and client relationships at the senior-most levels."

As reported in Christie's announcement, Murphy's most recent executive gig was as president and CEO of Rodale Inc., the U.S.-based publishing company whose best known magazines include Men's Health and Prevention. Its books include The South Beach Diet and Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth.

But not mentioned in the auction house's announcement is the fact that Murphy's time at the helm of at Rodale ended a full year ago---Sept. 1, 2009. Maria Rodale, the family company's board chairman, who announced that change at the end of July 2009, succeeded Murphy as CEO. At that time, Publishers Weekly reported that Murphy had been known at Rodale not only for financially astute leadership but also for corporate restructurings and workforce cuts.

In a statement that had been issued by the publishing company, Murphy enigmatically explained his resignation this way :

After a wonderful decade at Rodale, I have decided not to renew my contract and to take time off to pursue my own creative interests.

So what's this new Christie's CEO really like? Jon Fine wrote this for Businessweek in 2006:

He dresses well---almost too well. (Think three-piece suits in September.) He exudes the faint aura of a performer, of being aware he is being watched. [At least he looks and acts the part of an auction-house executive!]

Neither quality is common at the family-owned Rodale, based in Emmaus, Pa., which still retains the institutional DNA you'd expect from a company that has been popularizing "organic" since the 1940s.

But Murphy is a bit of an outsider in New York media as well. He came to Rodale from Disney, not Condé Nast. Chatter about turnover in his executive ranks, which Murphy and Rodale dismiss, persists. If his industry peers compiled a short list of top executives, there's a good chance Murphy wouldn't crack it. And yet his track record at Rodale since his arrival in 2000 is likely as good as anyone's and better than most.