PEOPLE
On December 15, two hundred and fifteen years after the Bill of Rights was ratified (in case you had lost perspective), Judith Regan was dismissed from HarperCollins.
Maureen Egen, Deputy Chairman and Publisher of the Hachette Book Group USA, will step down from those roles January 1 and will leave the company by the summer. Meanwhile, Warner Books’ name change is, PT hears, imminent. . . . Jennifer Barth has left her position as Editor-in-Chief at Holt to become an Executive Editor at Harper, reporting to Jonathan Burnham, starting January 15.
John Hogan, Editorial Director of Pages/AMS is leaving the company and moving to New York. He may be reached at writehogan@gmail.com.
David DeLano Director of Corporate reprints at Random House has been added to the lengthening list of the departed. He may be reached at 917.806.4272, or threexpop@earthlink.net.
In children’s news: Simon Tasker (previously at S&S) has been named Director, Global Retail Sales, Disney Book Group. Ex-DK Jeannie Guman has become the Director of Trade Sales. Other appointments include: Dave Epstein, who will handle sales to B&N; Kim Knueppel, who will manage Levy; and Sarah Sullivan who will manage AMS.
Little, Brown Children’s has hired Audrey Sclater for the new role of Art Director, marketing. Most recently, she was at Sterling. Jillian Jossem has joined the imprint as Brand Marketing Manager, from Alloy. . . . Stacey Barney has moved to Putnam Books for Young Readers, as an editor. Most recently, she was at Dafina/Kensington. . . . Houghton has hired Julia Richardson for the new position of Paperback Director in their children’s book group. Richardson is currently editorial director at Aladdin Paperbacks. . . After 19 years running Chronicle Books’ Children’s division, Victoria Rock will give up her position as Associate Publisher and will become Editor-at-Large and founding publisher.
Sterling announced that Philip Turner joined the company to direct a new imprint, Union Square Press. His place will be taken by Bill Strachan who was most recently at Hyperion.
Lots of changes in the world of direct selling: Seth Radwell has been named President of Scholastic at Home. In this role, he will also have responsibility for school continuity programs and the Back to Basics Toys division. Radwell, who is currently President of eScholastic, will retain that position. He succeeds Judy Newman, who will continue as President of Scholastic Book Clubs. . . . Carole Baron, SVP & Publishing Director of Bookspan, announced the appointment of Christine Zika to the position of Executive Editor for Madison Park Press, acquiring original book projects for the Press and Doubleday Entertainment Book. She was Senior Editor at Berkley Publishing.
Director of Sales Dudley Jahnke has left Viz and CEO Hidemi Fukuhara has taken over his duties. Gonzalo Ferreyra will take over direct responsibility for book and DVD sales and will report to Fukuhara. . . . .Ron Martirano has gone to McGraw-Hill as Editor from Penguin/Chamberlain Bros. . . Colleen Lindsay has moved to Abrams as Director of Marketing Operations, overseeing marketing for Abrams adult, Abrams Image and STC titles. She was formerly at Ballantine. Publicity Director Lisa Sherman-Cohen has left the company.
DK “is changing its US-based editorial structure to focus more on global publishing and less on US acquisition.” As a result, Publishing Director Carl Raymond will leave the company on January 15. He may be reached at 917.340.6677 or craymondny@aol.com. Editor Brian Saliba will move to custom publishing, reporting to business development director Mike Vaccaro.
Suzanne Balaban has left Scribner, where she was VP, Director of Publicity, to join the Shalem Centre, a think tank in Israel as VP Communications. She may be reached at suzannebalaban@gmail.com
Steve Fischer has been hired as NEIBA‘s new Executive Director. He had worked with RedWheel Weiser /Conari, HarperCollins and Tuttle. He can be reached at fischer617@aol.com. He replaces long time director Rusty Drugan who died earlier in the year.
At Globe Pequot Press, Inger Forland has joined the company as Executive director for marketing, publicity and design. Karen Cure has been hired as Editorial Director, travel. She was Editorial Director at Fodor‘s for ten years. Jeff Serena has been promoted to Associate Publisher, focusing on recreation, travel, hunting and fishing, local history, and regional cookbooks. He has been with the company since 2000.
At Miramax Books, Camille March has joined the company as Associate Director of Publicity, and will move to the Weinstein Company when it officially launches in late 2007.
Chairman and Chief Executive of Continuum, Philip Sturrock, has quit the UK/US publisher. Continuum was acquired by Nova in June 2005 and Patrick Austen, Director of Nova, will take over both as Chairman and CEO on a temporary basis.
In other international news, Michael Holdsworth, long time Managing Director of EMEA at Cambridge University Press, has left the publisher. Andrew Gilfillan, previously MD of Cambridge Learning, will replace Holdsworth from January 2007. . . . Ornella Robbiati writes that she is leaving Sonzogno to run De Agostini‘s book department, which publishes children’s books and nonfiction titles, to transform it into a “mainstream publishing house.” Finally, Penguin Deputy MD Andrew Welham will join Octopus in February as deputy CEO. Finally, Ravi Mirchandani, former Heinemann Publishing Director will join Atlantic Books in March in the same position.
Jason Kincade has taken over as New Media Manager at Knopf Publishing Group after Farah Miller left for Modern Bride magazine. Kincade was Online Editor, at Penguin.
PROMOTIONS
Andrea Schulz has been promoted to Editor-in-Chief at Harcourt, reporting to publisher Rebecca Saletan.
At Chronicle, Liza Algar has been promoted to Executive Director of marketing and Sarah Williams has been promoted to Executive Director, new business development.
Deborah Brody has been promoted to Executive Editor in McGraw-Hill professional’s consumer group.
DULY NOTED
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) and the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) hosted a seminar on Managing and Delivering Digital Assets, on November 29 to discuss developments in the world of epublishing. The informative presentations are available on the website: http://idpf.org/
And BookExpo America (BEA) is offering a free podcast of the 57th National Book Awards, including the announcement of the National Book Award Winners and their speeches.
Get the podcast at www.bookexpocast.com.
IN MEMORIAM
Cathy Fox Holstein, 54, died on Dec. 10th, of lung cancer. She was most recently at Putnam. A funeral service took place in Westchester on December 16. Memorial contributions in her name may be sent to the Relay for Life, American Cancer Society, 2 Lyon Place, White Plains, NY 10601.
