PEOPLE
This past month brought more layoffs, but some hires as well. We’ll start with those, but see below for layoffs, and where available, contact info.
Robert Riger has been named Director of the Pimsleur Language Program at Simon & Schuster Audio, succeeding Whit Waterbury. He was most recently Associate Publisher of SparkNotes/B&N.
Luke Dempsey has joined the Random House Publishing Group as Editorial Director, Nonfiction, Ballantine. Most recently, he was EIC of Penguin’s Hudson Street Press.
Marcy Goot has been named Executive Director of Marketing at Kaplan. She was VP of Marketing at National Lampoon.
Becky Cole has been named Senior Editor at Plume. She had been at Broadway Books.
Mary-Alice Moore has joined Highlights for Children as Executive Editor for new products. She was most recently with Scholastic@Home and HarperCollins.
Cathy Hemming has moved her eponymous literary agency to McCormick & Williams.
Simon Green has joined CAA in New York as an agent. He may be reached at sgreen [at] caa.com.
HarperCollins’s February layoffs affected an indeterminate number of people. To recap, Collins was merged into Harper. Collins President and Pulisher Steve Ross (slross58 [at] gmail.com) and several other members of the Collins group were laid off. They include Nancy Miller, VP and Executive Editor at Collins; Paul Olsewski, VP Senior Director of Publicity (paulolsewski [at] yahoo.com); Larry Hughes, Senior Director of Publicity (lhcommun [at] comcast.net); Caroline Sutton, Executive Editor (ces55eea [at] gmail.com); Gillian Blake, Executive Editor at Collins (gillianblake1 [at] gmail.com); and Nina Olmsted, SVP Sales.
Lisa Gallagher (lisagallaghernyc [at] gmail.com), SVP and Publisher of William Morrow, has also left. Liate Stehlik has taken over as SVP, Publisher of Morrow/Eos/Avon, and will continue to oversee Avon and Harper mass market titles.
Collins Reference remains under Bruce Nichols, VP, Publisher of Collins Reference, who now also serves as Executive Editor at Harper. He reports to Jonathan Burnham, as do Elisabeth Dyssegaard and Hollis Heimbouch, Executive Editor Adam Bellow, and Senior Editor Ben Loehnen.
Cecilia Molinari, Editor and ME at Rayo/HarperCollins, can be reached at ceci.freelance [at] gmail.com.
Richard Nash is leaving Counterpoint, where he was Executive Editor, as well as Editorial Director of Soft Skull Press, on March 10. CEO Charlie Winton stated that the company will maintain the Soft Skull imprint and an editorial office in New York. According to Nash’s farewell Tweet: “Hey y’all, my new Twitter name is r_nash. Also www.rnash.com about to go live, and rnash [at] rnash.com already live.”
Gene Mydlowski, former SVP and Creative Director for RHPG, may be reached at gmydlowski [at] gmail.com.
Joanna Pinsker, Associate Director of Publicity at Broadway Books/Random House, may be reached at joannap98 [at] gmail.com. Bruce Tracy, who left Villard earlier this year, may be reached at brucetracy247 [at] gmail.com. Julee Schwarzburg, former Senior Fiction Editor for WaterBrook Multnomah, may be reached at jks8823 [at] aol.com. Jeff Boison, Director of Sales for the Random House Audio Publishing Group, has also left the company, and may be reached at jboison [at] verizon.net.
Robin Noonan, former National Account Manager at S&S, may be reached at robinnoonan [at] comcast.net.
Mike Katz, former VP of Buying & Inventory management for BN.com, may be reached at mkatz50 [at] yahoo.com.
Peter Prescott, Senior Editor for Life Sciences at Oxford University Press, has been laid off, along with four others in the science edit/marketing department. He may be reached at peterjprescott [at] gmail.com.
Diane Otey, former National Account Manager for the MBI/Quayside Publishing Group, has been laid off and may be reached at doteyster [at] gmail.com.
Susan Hecht, former Associate Director of Retail Marketing at Macmillan’s Roaring Brook Press, may be reached at s1hecht [at] aol.com.
Mark Yarnell, former Product Manager for Levy Home Entertainment, may be reached at mly773 [at] rcn.com.
Paul Von Drasek, former Director of Field Sales at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, may be reached at pvondrasek [at] nyc.rr.com. Ellen Higgins Sugg, former National Accounts Manager with Mass Merchant Accounts at HMH, may be reached at e.sugg [at] comcast.net.
Karin Taylor, Executive Director of the New York Center for Independent Publishing, has left and may be reached at karintaylor4444 [at] gmail.com. Leah Schnelbach, Assistant Director of the NYCIP, will serve as Interim Director.
Rodale Books has eliminated four jobs in its book group as part of a “realignment” of resources. Among those laid off was VP of Publicity Beth Davey.
PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES
Laura Stickney has been promoted to Editor at the Penguin Press. Stickney joined Penguin in 2006 from OUP.
Steve Rubin has a new position as EVP and Publisher at Large of Random House, reporting to Markus Dohle.
At Sterling, Kate Rados has been named Director of Digital Markets. Ron Davis has been named VP, Special and International Sales, Digital and Gift. Anne Rogers has been named Director of Special Markets.
Waterfront Media, publisher of SouthbeachDiet.com and EverydayHealth.com, laid off twenty-two people in February.
At Perseus Book Group’s Da Capo Press, Katie McHugh has been promoted to Executive Editor. She had earlier been an editor at Avalon, which was acquired by Perseus in 2007.
DULY NOTED
March is Small Press Month. Take a look at http://www.smallpressmonth.org/events to see what is happening around the country.
March 8–14 is “Read an Ebook Week.” Go to www.ebookweek.com to learn how to celebrate.
Three self-described “history guys,” Peter Onuf (18th-Century Guy) and Brian Balogh (20th-Century Guy), historians at the University of Virginia, and Ed Ayers (19th-Century Guy), President of the University of Richmond and also a historian, have a radio show that gives listeners background to stories in the news and a chance to discuss the implications with the “guys.” The three have written or edited 25 books between them. BackStory is broadcast on various NPR stations and is available as a podcast. Go to www.backstoryradio.org.
IN MEMORIAM
Jean Srnecz, SVP of Merchandising at Baker & Taylor, was among those who died in the crash of Continental flight 3407 on February 12. Memorial contributions may be made to the following organizations: Susan G. Komen for the Cure, 5005 LBJ Freeway, Suite 250, Dallas, TX 75244, or Mortel Family Charitable Foundation, PO Box 405, Hershey, PA 17033.
