PEOPLE
Disney Publishing Worldwide President Russell Hampton will step down on May 4 after six years in the position. Recently it was announced that the company is transferring over 100 DPW employees to Glendale, CA. The company expects to complete the transfers by September 30 at which time that office will be closed. About 50 employees, including sales and marketing staffers, of Disney Publishing book imprints – Disney Editions, Disney-Hyperion, Disney-Jump at the Sun, and Disney Press – will move back to New York City, where a number of DPW Editors had remained.
HarperCollins announced that Chantal Restivo-Alessi has been appointed to the position of Chief Digital Officer reporting to CEO Brian Murray. Restivo-Alessi will be responsible for the global digital strategy for the company. SVP Leslie Hulse will report to her. Restivo-Alessi joins HarperCollins from ING Bank in London, where she was Head of Media Corporate Finance. She has an MBA from Columbia University, a Masters in Foreign Trade and International Marketing from ICE Italian Institute, and an MA in International Political Sciences from University of Rome. She replaces Charlie Redmayne, who left HarperCollins for Pottermore.
Lisa Tomasello will join Macmillan‘s sales department as a National Account Manager for adult trade titles, including distribution titles, calling on Costco and BJ’s. She was previously with Simon & Schuster.
Liz Scheier joined Brilliance Audio as Senior Product Manager. She was previously Editorial Director, Digital Content at Barnes & Noble.
Claire Taylor will also join the Macmillan sales department as a National Account Manager selling Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group and Macmillan distributed publisher children’s titles to WalMart, WalMart Canada, Sam’s, Costco, and their distribution partners. She was most recently a National Accounts Rep at Candlewick.
Open Road Integrated Media announced that Stephanie Gorton has joined the company as Acquisitions Manager. Gorton, a former Editor at the Overlook Press, will help acquire backlist titles for Open Road’s Author Brands program and will also be involved in the acquisition and publication activities for Open Road Publishing Partners and frontlist E-riginal titles. Gorton reports to Tina Pohlman, Publisher.
Books-A-Million has appointed R. Todd Noden as Chief Financial Officer. He will report to Terry Finely, CEO and president of BAM. Noden will replace current CFO Brian W. White. Most recently, Noden was CFO of Dobbs Mills.
PROMOTIONS AND INTERNAL CHANGES
Colin Shields has been promoted to VP, Director of Digital Sales at S&S. He will continue to have responsibility for the print business at Amazon.com, as well as digital sales for Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple, Sony, Kobo, and others. In other promotions at S&S, Jessica Abell and Rachelle Andujar have been promoted to Associate Marketing Manager, while Nick Greene has been promoted to Assistant Editor. David Hillman has been named Executive VP and General Counsel he was most recently the Chief Administrative Officer, General Counsel and Executive VP, Business Affairs for Dial Global.
Also at S&S Audio, Robert Riger has been promoted from Director to VP, Director of Pimsleur Language Programs.
Tina Andreadis has been promoted to VP, Senior Executive Director of Publicity for Harper, Ecco, Amistad, Harper Perennial, Harper paperbacks, Harper Audio, and, effective immediately, It Books, and Harper Design. She has been at Harper since 2005.
Steve Wasserman, Executive Editor-at-large for general interest books at Yale U. P. has moved to a full-time role, effective May 1. Wasserman was most recently a partner at the literary agency of Kneerim and Williams.
Ann-Marie Pucillo has been promoted to VP, Executive Managing Editor, now overseeing ebook editorial operations for the adult and children’s imprints at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She remains Executive Managing Editor for the children’s book group as well. Also at HMH, Mary Huot has been promoted to Managing Editor; and Sarah Iani has been promoted to Associate Production Editor in the adult trade group. Ron Hussey has been promoted to Director of Permissions and Susan Canavan has been promoted to Senior Executive Editor. Peter Bohan has been promoted to Associate Director of Marketing in the children’s division.
Sourcebooks has promoted Barbara Briel to SVP, Chief Operating Officer, “responsible for oversight of Sourcebooks’ daily operations, including driving performance measures and strategic planning activities throughout the company.” She joined the company in 2004 as Accounting Manager, and in 2007 was named VP, Director of Administration and Finance. Additionally, Nick Martinelli has been promoted to Web Development Manager; Danielle Jackson moves up to Senior Publicist.
Laura Keefe has been promoted to Director of Digital & Trade Marketing for Bloomsbury’s adult group, and Jonathan Kroberger has been promoted to Associate Publicist for Bloomsbury Children’s and Walker Children’s. Katy Hershberger has been promoted to Director of Publicity.
Andrea Fleck Nisbet has been promoted to Executive Director, Digital Publishing at Workman. She was previously Director, Digital Publishing.
Martina Challis has been appointed Publisher at Weldon Owen, the Bonnier Publishing-owned children’s reference publisher in the UK. She was Publisher at Kingfisher.
DULY NOTED
The Association of American University Presses (www.aaupnet.org) is looking for an Executive Director to serve as the Chief Operating Officer of the Association, to “provide visionary leadership to the organization and its constituent members.” The position is based in the AAUP New York City office, and the successful candidate will start spring 2013. The position reports to the AAUP Board of Directors.
Broadthink (broad-think.com), a branding and new business development media company that represents Dean Koontz and others, is launching an online romance hub TruLOVEstories.com through its through its newest company BroadLit, featuring ebooks, casual digital games, customized avatars, licensed merchandise, and other features.
The American Jerusalem International Book Fair (JIBF) Advisory Committee announced that the deadline for applications for its popular Editor and Agent Fellowships for the 2013 Fair has been set for July 16, 2012. The Fair dates are February 10-15, 2013, with the Fellows’ week-long program beginning two days earlier, on February 8. The 2013 JIBF will mark the 26th anniversary of the Fair, which was established in 1973. Applications are available at http://jibffellowship.com/
The Workman Speakers Bureau has officially launched under the direction of longtime publishing veteran, Carol Schneider, representing authors from the five publishers under the Workman Publishing banner: Workman, Algonquin, Artisan, Storey and Timber. Its roster of seventeen authors includes Patricia Schultz (1000 Places to See Before You Die) and Bob Nelson (1501 Ways to Reward Your Employees)—and some of Algonquin’s most dynamic novelist/speakers—Heidi Durrow (The Girl Who Fell From the Sky), Tayari Jones (Silver Sparrow) and Naomi Benaron (Running the Rift).
IN MEMORIAM
A memorial service for Barney Rosset will be held on Wednesday, May 9, in New York at The Great Hall at Cooper Union (7th St. between 3rd and 4th Avenues.) The ceremony will begin at 5:30.
UPCOMING EVENTS
April 30 – May 6, 2012
PEN World Voices Festival
Writers from around the world convene in New York City to celebrate the power of the written word in action.
New York, NY
May 17 – 20, 2012
Book World Prague 2012
400 exhibitors from more than 30 countries and regions from all over the world are represented at the fair. Guest of Honor: Romania.
Czech Republic
May 20 –23, 2012
National Stationery Show
The world’s most comprehensive collection of stationery and related products.
Javits Center, New York, NY
May 24 –27, 2012
Thessaloniki International Book Fair
Four day festival focused on books. Guest of Honor: Serbia.
Thessaloniki, Greece
May 29 – 30, 2012
StoryDrive China
The first all-media platform in Asia dedicated to exploring new forms of collaboration and business models across media boundaries.
China National Convention Centre, Beijing
May 30 – June 2, 2012
CLA 2012
Canadian Library Association National Conference and Trade Show.
Ottawa, ON, Ottawa Convention Centre
Jun 4 – 6, 2012
Book Expo America
Guest of Honor: Russia.
Javits Center, New York, NY
