Jim Roberts joins strategic communications firm Mercury

Jim Roberts is turning in his newsman’s hat. Mercury, a global public strategy and communications firm, is announcing on Monday it has hired him to lead its global digital practice.

Roberts, most recently executive editor at Mashable, has also held high ranking positions at The New York Times and Reuters. Roberts was laid off at Mashable as part of a massive restructuring. At Mercury, he will advise clients on strategies for digital platforms, mobile devices and social media.

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"This company wants to truly build a digital business and truly wants to expand their world into the world I’ve been working in for a decades, so it’s up to me to truly figure out what this means and to figure out how they can best exist within that world and sort of best service their clients within the world of digital communication,” Roberts said.

Mercury’s client, according to its website, include healthcare tort reform, Republican candidates for office, the NFL Network and a global automaker.

Roberts acknowledged that some people may feel surprised by his decision to leave journalism.

“I realize I’m changing professions,” Roberts said. "I’m not going to tell people what to think but I will say I have a lot of opportunity here and I’m excited to give it a try."

Though there were other opportunities in the journalism world he could have pursued (he was consulting for The Hill for the past few months), Roberts said no position truly caught his attention.

“I did give it a lot of thought, I guess I didn't really want to do a quick rebound into something that very similar to what I had a Mashable,” Roberts said. "I’ll be very honest, I enjoyed the job I had there and leaving was a bit abrupt, I just felt like this was a chance to do something completely different. I had an opportunity that I felt like doesn’t come along very often."