Crown Publishing Group President and Publisher Maya Mavjee announces big changes: Diane Salvatore, VP, Publisher of Broadway Books; Senior Editor Lorraine Glennon; and VP, Executive Director, Publicity Katie Wainright are leaving the company. Shaye Areheart steps down as Publisher of her eponymous imprint, Shaye Areheart Books (which will be discontinued), but will stay on as Editor-at-Large at Crown. David Drake has been promoted to SVP, Executive Director, Publicity. Meanwhile, Philip Patrick, VP and Publisher of Three Rivers Press, becomes VP, Digital and Marketing Strategy, Publisher, Crown Group Digital, relinquishing his Three Rivers duties. Tina Pohlman, who was Senior Editor at Spiegel & Grau, moves to become VP, Publisher, Three Rivers.
In April, Libby McGuire was promoted to SVP, Publisher of the newly formed Ballantine Bantam Dell. As a result of the merged imprints, Nita Taublib has stepped down as EVP, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Bantam Dell. In other Random House news, Kendra Harpster is joining the Random House imprint in May as a Senior Editor, reporting to Susan Kamil. She was most recently an editor at Viking. Ranjana Wingender has been promoted to Director, Corporate Development, succeeding Nina von Moltke, who was recently promoted to VP, Digital Publishing Development. Thomas Lueke was appointed Manager, Corporate Development. Milena Albert is promoted to the newly created position of VP, Mergers and Acquisitions. Jaime De Pablos will succeed her as Director, Spanish-Language Publishing, Vintage Español.
Michele Martin has left Langenscheidt, where she was Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, and is now agenting under the rubric MDM Management.
Sean McDonald, who was Executive Editor at Riverhead, has gone to Farrar, Straus & Giroux (which Lorin Stein recently departed) as Executive Editor and Director of Paperback Publishing.
New York Times book publishing reporter Motoko Rich is moving over to the Times’ Business Day section to write about the economy, and will also work with Catherine Rampell, an economics writer who edits the Economix blog, reporting to Winnie O’Kelley.
Pablo Defendini has been named Interactive Producer at Open Road Integrated Media. He had been producer at Tor.com.
Seth Russo rejoins Simon & Schuster as VP, Director of International Sales. He held the same title at the company from 1992 to 1997. Russo was most recently the principal of Edureach International Consulting.
Sarah Knight has been named Senior Editor at Simon & Schuster. She was an editor at Shaye Areheart Books.
Colin Fox has been named Executive Editor at Hyperion. He was a Senior Editor at Simon & Schuster.
Marcy Posner, formerly agent and foreign rights director at Sterling Lord Literistic, has joined Folio Literary Management as an agent.
Lottchen Shivers has joined Abrams in the new position of Executive Director of Adult Marketing and Publicity, reporting to Mary Wowk. She had been running Lottchen Shivers Communications. Meanwhile, Susan Van Metre has been promoted to Publisher of Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet Books, replacing Howard Reeves, who been made Editor-at-Large.
Jeanne Emanuel has joined Perseus Books Group as VP Special and Gift Sales, a new position. She will be based in the Cambridge, MA office. She was most recently VP, Sales for Candlewick Press.
Cal Barksdale has started as Senior Editor at Tuttle Publishing in Vermont. He was at Arcade Books.
Jennifer Graham has been named Production Editor at Avalon and Lia Brown has been named Editor. She had been Managing Editor at Oxford University Press.
Jim Benjamin has started his own consulting company, JAB Associates, focused on finance and operations. He was CFO at Sterling. He may be reached at jabenjamin [at] verizon [dot] net.
Jocelyn Schmidt has been named Director of Brand Management at Penguin Children’s. She was VP and Director of Sales at Random House.
Dedi Felman has left Times Books and may be reached at dediaf1 [at] gmail [dot] com.
PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES
Ballantine Bantam Dell Publisher Libby McGuire (see above) has promoted Jennifer Hershey, SVP Editorial Director, Random House, to SVP, EIC, Ballantine Bantam Dell. Scott Shannon adds the title of Publisher, Ballantine Bantam Dell Mass Market, to his current role as VP, Publisher, Del Rey/Spectra. Kim Hovey, VP, Associate Publisher, Ballantine will now fill that position at BBD. Gina Wachtel, Bantam Associate Publisher, takes on the new role for BBD. Mark Tavani has been promoted to Executive Editor. He was Senior Editor.
At Random House Children’s, Till Wirth has joined New Media Marketing in the new position of Manager, Digital Content and Product Development.
At Oxford University Press, Tim Barton, who is ascending to the role of Managing Director of OUP USA, the UK Academic Division, and Oxford Journals, announced that Niko Pfund will now run US books and journals publishing across Academic and Trade, Medicine, and Law, in the Academic Research group. Scholarly Reference is run by Casper Grathwohl, also Online Publisher, OUP USA; and Higher Education by John Challice.
At Other Press, Paul Kozlowski, Director of Sales and Marketing, has been promoted to Associate Publisher. Editor Corinna Barsan has been promoted to Senior Editor and Katie Henderson to Editor.
At Shambhala, Sara Bercholz has been promoted to Executive Vice President and will also become the family owner representative.
Grace McQuade has been named Managing Director at Goldberg McDuffie Communications. She was Executive Vice President. Goldberg McDuffie also announced the launch of GMC Consulting, a new division aimed at helping “authors, agents and publishers develop creative strategies to meet the challenges of the digital era.” GMC Consulting “will provide authors and agents with guidance from the beginning of the publishing process.” In addition, the division will offer consulting services to authors on positioning and publicity for the launch of a book. Megan Underwood Beatie has been named Deputy Director of GMC Digital. Angela Baggetta Hayes has been named Director of GMC Digital. Both had been VPs at Goldberg McDuffie.
At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Carla Gray has been promoted to Director of Marketing, Adult Books; Candace Finn has been promoted to Subsidiary Rights Manager, in charge of selling all children’s rights; and Emer Flounders has been promoted to Publicist.
At HarperCollins, Lisa Sharkey announced that Matt Harper has been promoted to Senior Editor and Amy Bendell to Associate Editor.
DULY NOTED
Yale Publishing Course Director Tina Weiner announced that the new course, which runs July 18–23, will be titled “Leadership Strategies in a Time of Transition” and will concentrate on “the business of publishing as a global enterprise.”
Erstwhile Publishers Weekly Publisher George Slowik has purchased the magazine from Reed Elsevier and confirmed the recently appointed management of current Publisher Cevin Bryerman and co-editors Jim Milliot and Michael Coffey.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Sandbox Summit, which focuses on children’s media, books, toys, virtual worlds, and education, takes place May 18–19 in Cambridge, MA. A panel entitled “A New Chapter for Books: Innovative Approaches to the Oldest Form of Media” will be moderated by Alexandra Kennedy, Executive Director, Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art; panelists include Lisa Holton, Founder and CEO, Fourth Story Media; Peter H. Reynolds, children’s book author and illustrator and founder of FableVision; and Ben Vershbow, Digital Producer, NYPL.
The Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup takes place May 24–25 in San Francisco, CA. Speakers include Guy Kawasaki; Sean Horvath, EVP, Branded Entertainment, Alloy Media + Marketing; and Publishing Trends alum Ariel Aberg-Riger, Creative Development and Marketing Director, Fourth Story Media.
IN MEMORIAM
A memorial service will be held for Knopf’s Nina Bourne, who died on April 9, 2010 at the age of 93. The service takes place Wednesday, May 19 at 4:00 p.m. at the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
