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Three weeks ago, Mark Schlissel still was in charge at the University of Michigan. And until the middle of this week, Jeff Zucker headed CNN.
The academic president and network president lost their jobs 18 days apart for undisclosed romances with subordinates. Their tumbles from the top reflect a new era of zero tolerance for "secret" workplace relationships between bosses and underlings.
That's the clearest connection between what happened Jan. 15 at U-M and Wednesday at the cable news division of WarnerMedia. Three similarities and three differences are sketched below as Zucker's forced resignation brings L'Affaire Shlissel back to mind.
Brothers in blunders
♦ Rules apply even at the top: Schlissel was snared by a sexual misconduct policy he touted and the board of regents enacted last July after a harassment scandal involving a fired U-M administrator. It bans a supervisor from starting or trying to start an intimate relationship with a subordinate. If such a romance is sparked, "immediate disclosure of the relationship by the supervisor is required."
In a CNN farewell memo, Zucker acknowledges "a consensual relationship with my closest colleague. ... I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn't. I was wrong." WarnerMedia's policy says personal relationships must be disclosed immediately to ‘"avoid a conflict of interest," particularly if one person is in a "position to influence" the other's career.
Mark Schlissel and a special friend sat courtside last Nov. 5 as U-M beat Wayne State, 87-54. (Photo: Reddit)
♦ Out in plain sight: Each guy appeared publicly with his lover. Schlissel was photographed at a Wayne State basketball game three months ago with his unnamed squeeze (left) and traveled repeatedly with her, ostensibly on university business.
Zucker and Allison Gollust, a CNN executive vice president and chief marketing officer, were photographed together at a Billy Joel show in Madison Square Garden. "In recent years, it was rare for Mr. Zucker to appear at public events without Ms. Gollust at his side," The New York Times says Thursday. "They sat beside one another at White House Correspondents’ Association dinners [and] industry galas like the Peabody Awards." Former CNN correspondent Roland Martin calls it "an open secret" in a tweet, adding: "I was only there with them for four months in 2013 and knew. NBC folks knew when they worked together there."
♦ Families split apart: Jeff and Caryn Zucker, who have four children, divorced in 2019 after 21 years of marriage. They met at NBC, when he was executive producer of the "Today Show" and she worked at "Saturday Night Live." Gollust and ex-husband William Hult filed for divorce in 2015 and it was finalized in 2017. They have two children.
Schlissel isn't divorced from attorney Monica Schwebs, who now lives and works in Moraga, Calif., near San Francisco. They wed in 1991 and have three sons and a daughter.
Different paths, same outcome
♦ Salary gap: Each executive is publicly embarrassed and jobless (though Schlissel could take a big cut to teach biology), but the TV one loses a far more lucrative gig ($6 million a year) than the campus one ($927,000).
Mark Schlissel and Jeff Zucker, brothers in blunders
♦ No spicy emails this time: Because U-M regents released many dozens of emails between Schlissel and his "Individual 1" special friend, we know about his chosen love sonnet (Shakespeare's 73rd), go-to dishes (knishes, calzones, Indian food) and recommended Hulu series ("Only Murders in the Building").
CNN hired a prominent New York law firm to investigate the the Zucker-Gollust connection, but no private exchanges have dropped.
♦ Long-term colleagues vs. newer ones: Zucker's sendoff email to his staff describes Gollust as "my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years." She started at NBC in 1996 as a "Today Show" publicist while he was its executive producer and rose to executive vice president of corporate communications at the network, working closely with Zucker during his climb to president and chief executive of NBC Universal.
Schlissel came to U-M as president in 2014 and met his future soulmate then or sometime later.
