People Round-Up, Early March 2015

PEOPLE

Anja Schmidt has joined Oxmoor House as Editorial Director. She was most recently US Publisher at Kyle Books and previously, Executive Editor at DK.

Robert Riger is leaving his position as VP & Director, Pimsleur Foreign Language Programs at Simon & Schuster Audio in mid-March. Previously, he held positions at Barnes and Noble, Penguin, and Sparknotes and was a co-founder of Market Partners International. He can be reached at RPRiger@gmail.com.

Shanta Inshiqaq joined Rizzoli as International Sales Director. She was International and Field Sales Director at Bloomsbury and previously National Sales Manager at Penguin.

Susan Golomb joined Writers House as Agent. She was most recently Owner of The Susan Golomb Literary Agency and will bring her clients with her, including authors Jonathan Franzen and William T. Vollmann. Foreign Rights Director Soumeya Bendimerad is making the move with her and will take on the title of Junior Agent.

Benjamin Lee joined Putnam and Dutton as VP, Associate Publisher, Paperbacks. Previously, he was VP, Associate Publisher at Atria. Aislinn Belton joined Crown Publishing Group as Managing Editor for Crown, Hogarth, Broadway Books, Tim Duggan Books, Crown Archetype, and Three Rivers Press. Meanwhile, Frank Autunnale is leaving his position as VP, Finance at the end of the month after nine years with the company. He can be reached at fautunnale@gmail.com. Stephanie Frerich is now Senior Editor at Portfolio, Sentinel, and Current. She was previously at the online education start-up Skillshare.

Suzanne Donahue is returning to Simon and Schuster as Associate Publisher for Atria. She was formerly VP, Associate Publisher of Free Press. Jennifer Long joined Gallery Books as Associate Publisher, taking over for Michele Martin, who has moved to Simon & Schuster’s new imprint North Star Way as VP, Publisher. Long was previously at Penguin as Head of Customer Service. Kathryn Belden will join Scribner as Executive Editor in mid-March. Previously, she was Executive Editor at Bloomsbury. Additionally, Sanjay Doraiswamy has joined the company in the newly created position of Data Scientist. Previously, he was Data Scientist at Agilex Technologies.

Helen Atsma will join Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as Executive Editor. She was previously Senior Editor at Grand Central Publishing. Leigh Zarelli joined as SVP, Consumer Brands. She was previously SVP, Commerce at AOL. Caroline Fraser joined as VP of Program Development and Acquisition and Alex Littlefield is now Senior Editor. Previously, Fraser was VP, Digital Products and Production at Scholastic Media and Littlefield was Senior Editor at Basic Books.

Alexander Galan has left his position as Vice President, Communications Director at ARTBOOK | D.A.P. to start a new company. He can be reached at alex.galan@trunkarchive.com.

William Smith joined MIT Press as Director of Intellectual Property Licensing. He was formerly Director of Subsidiary Rights for Perseus Books and Director of Digital Business Development for Constellation.

Michael Green is now Head of US Operations at ePubDirect. Formerly, he was Director of E-Content Development at Baker & Taylor. Additionally, Emilia Pisani is now US Account Manager. She was previously Acquiring Editor at Gallery Books.

Tim Murray was named VP, Sales at Bookshout. He was most recently Director, Premium and Custom Publishing at Simon & Schuster. Additionally, Timothy Cheng joined as Director, Sales. Previously, he was Special Sales Manager at Perseus.

Sonya Cheuse will be joining HarperCollins as Director of Publicity for Ecco in March. She was at Grand Central Publishing, where she served as Deputy Director of Publicity since 2012. Zachary Wagman joined Ecco as an Executive Editor. He was previously Senior Editor at Crown. Meanwhile, Michael McKenzie is leaving his position as Senior Director of Publicity at the imprint after 15 years with the company and can be reached at michaelmckenziepr@gmail.com. Julia Pastore is joining as Executive Editor at HarperOne. Previously, she was Executive Editor at Demos Health Publishers. Additionally, Christina Tomasulo was named Senior Manager, Proprietary and Display Marketing Sales. She was previously Director, Special Sales at Downtown Bookworks.

Mark Hillesheim joined Legato Publishers Group as National Accounts Manager. Previously, he was VP of National Accounts for HarperCollins. Additionally at Perseus Books Group, Jessie Borkan and Kim Highland joined as Managers, Client Services at Perseus Distribution. Borkan was previously Director of Rights, Contracts, and Finance at Kuhn Projects Literary Agency and Highland was Director of National Accounts and Director of Amazon Sales at Penguin Young Readers Group.

Robyn DesHotel will start as CFO at ABA in the beginning of March, replacing Eleanor Chang, who is retiring. DesHotel was Director of Finance and Administration at PEN American Center.

Michele Cobb joined the Audio Publishers Association as Executive Director. She also owns MLC Consulting.

Ted Heinecken will retire as Sales Rep at Fujii Associates at the end of the month after over 50 years in the publishing industry.

Soshana Gutmajer joined Artisan Books as Senior Editor. She was formerly Editor at Assouline.

In children’s publishing, Bethany Buck joined Sanford J. Greenburger Associates as Literary Agent. Previously, she was VP, Publisher of Aladdin and Simon Pulse at Simon & Schuster. . . Timothy Travaglini has left his position as Director, Children’s Acquisitions at Open Road Integrated Media. He can be reached at timothy.travaglini@gmail.com. . . Jordan Hamessley joined Adaptive Books as Editorial Director. Formerly, she was Editor at Egmont USA. . . Traci Todd joined Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet as Executive Editor, Children’s. She was formerly Senior Editor, Children’s at Viz Media. . . . . . Veronique Sweet joined Little, Brown Children’s as Senior Designer, Brand, Licensed, and Media Tie-Ins. She was previously Designer at Macmillan Children’s. Ching Chan joined as Senior Designer. She was previously at Penguin. Kumi Hayase also joined as Senior Designer. . . Jennifer Abbots will join Scholastic Trade as Publicity Manager. She was previously at Harlequin. Michael Petranek is now Senior Editor, Licensed Publishing. He was previously at Papercutz. Maya Frank-Levine is Production Editor. She was previously at Rockefeller University Press. Meanwhile, at Klutz, Owen Keating is now Senior Packaging Designer. He was previously at Alex Toys. Julia Romero is Key Account Manager and was previously at Kid O. Kim Ryan is now Specialty Sales Manager. She was previously at Splash. . . Chelsea Hassman joined Random House Children’s as Social Media Manager. She was formerly Social Media Manager and Photo Editor at Pitchfork. . . Whitney Leader-Picone joined HMH Books for Young Readers as Senior Designer. Previously, she was Designer and Ebook Conversion Manager at Charlesbridge. . . Alison Weiss is now Editor at Sky Pony, focusing on middle grade and young adult. Previously, she was Associate Editor at Egmont USA. . . Paul Von Drasek will retire from his position as Trade Sales Manager at Capstone after six years with the company. He can be reached at pvondrasek@gmail.com.

Tara Gavin joined Kensington as Executive Editor. Formerly, she was Senior Executive Editor at Harlequin.

Matt Kaye joined Inkshares as VP, Marketing. He was previously Senior Product Manager at Amazon.

Kendall Hinote joined JKS Communications as Director of Special Projects, Lynn Milner is now General Manager, and Chelsea Apple is Publicist and Angelle Barbazon is also Publicist. Hinote was Family Literacy Cooridnator at Nashville Public Library’s Bringing Books to Life! and Milner was Office Manager at Roussel and Associates. Apple was Editorial Assistant at the Hachette imprint Jericho Books and Barbazon was Reporter for The Elkhart Truth.

Megan Beatie launched Megan Beatie Communications, a book publicity and marketing agency that will be based in Los Angeles. Beatie was previously VP, Director of Publicity at Goldberg McDuffie Communications.

Ron Longe started his own boutique PR firm, Ron Longe Public Relations. Previously, he was Executive Account Director at Media Masters Publicity.

At David C. Cook, Tim MacDonald is now Chief Advancement Officer and Alice Crider is now Senior Acquisitions and Development Editor.

James Schneider is joining Princeton University Press as Senior Publicist. Previously, he was Writer and Television Producer at Fox News.

In religious publishing, Donna Hunter joined Family Christian as Chief Merchandising Officer. She was previously VP, Merchandising at Kayser-Roth Corp. . . Jeff Hamilton left Church Publishing Incorporated and can be reached at jhamilton23@comcast.net.

Matt Mullin will join The Reading Room as Sales Director. Previously, he was Senior Manager, Digital Content at Nook.

Francine Leinheiser will retire from her position as Director of Order Management at Simon & Schuster at the end of the month after 38 years with the company.

George Lossius joined Midas Public Relations Board as Non-Executive Director. He was previously CEO at Publishing Technology.

Nicco Mele is now Deputy Publisher at Tupelo Press. He will continue as Deputy Publisher of The Los Angeles Times.

Liza Paderes is now Acquisitions Manager at IPR License. Previously, she was Export Sales Account Manager at Quercus Books.

PROMOTIONS

Sean Shoemaker will become President of Publishers Group West in April 2015. He has been with the company for 20 years and was most recently VP, Operations and Member of the PGW Executive Committee. Shoemaker is taking over for current President Susan Reich, who announced she would be retiring back in December.

At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Ken Carpenter was promoted to VP, Associate Publisher, Jenna Johnson to Executive Editor, and Nicole Angeloro to Editor.

Mark Allin’s promotion to COO at Wiley has been accelerated with the announcement that CEO Stephen Smith will be taking medical leave.

At Graywolf Press, Erin Kottke was promoted to Marketing and Publicity Director and Leslie Johnson to Managing Director.

In a reorganization at Hachette, Dave Epstein was promoted to VP, Retail Sales, Linda Jamison to Executive Director of Mass Merchant Sales, and Tracy Dowd to Director of Sales. Meanwhile, Karen Torres becomes VP, Field Sales and Account Marketing and Melissa Nicholas is now Director of Account Marketing. Additionally, Billy Clark is now VP Sales, Retail Analytics and Client Services and David Bowers is SVP, Digital Sales, Business Development and Strategy.

Tina McIntyre will oversee Little, Brown Books for Young Reader’s new digital imprint Novl in addition to her responsibilities as Executive Director of Strategic Planning and Digital Publisher of LBYR. Pam Gruber, Senior Editor at LBYR, will also oversee the new imprint.

Penguin Random House promoted Skip Dye to VP, Director, Sales Operations. He will retain his responsibilities as VP, Director, Academic Marketing and Library Sales, Random House and Crown. Additionally, Rebecca Waugh was promoted to Editorial Director, Listening Library, Children and Teens. Stephanie Moss was promoted to Art Director and Heather Kelly to Designer at Knopf, Delacorte, Wendy Lamb, and Crown Books for Young Readers. Meanwhile, Keith Clayton will take on the responsibilities of VP, Associate Publisher, Mass Market for Ballantine, Bantam Dell in addition to those of VP, Associate Publisher at Del Rey. Jennifer Garza was promoted to Assistant Director of Publicity for Random House, Michelle Jasmine to Publicity Manager and Jenna Friedman to Publicity Manager, Special Events and Partnerships. At Random House’s digital imprints, Gina Wachtel was promoted to VP, Editorial Director of Digital and Associate Publisher of Romance and Mark Schwartz is now Associate Publisher, overseeing strategy and pricing.

Gayle Brown was promoted to Associate Publisher/Art Director at Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing.

Monique Patterson is now Editorial Director of Romance and Executive Editor at St. Martin’s Press. Jason Liebman was promoted to Marketing Director, Digital Technology at Holt. Additionally, Caroline Zancan was promoted to Editor at Holt.

At Abrams, Erica LaSala was promoted to Senior Manager, Foreign and Subsidiary Rights, Eric Klopfer was to Senior Editor, Adult Trade, and Jennifer Graham to Senior Managing Editor, Abrams Books for Young Readers and Amulet. Meanwhile, Erin Hotchkiss was promoted to Director, Marketing, Adult Trade and Paul Colarusso to Senior Marketing Manager, Adult Trade. Matthew Dinda was promoted to Trade Sales Representative.

Meg LaBorde Kuehn was promoted to CEO of Kirkus Media. Previously, she was COO.

Casey Whalen was promoted to Manager, Special Sales and Universe Calendars at Rizzoli.

Scholastic Trade promoted Leslie Mechanic to Senior Designer and Scholastic Press promoted Rebekah Wallin to Production Editor.

John Cotter was promoted to Director of Accounts Receivable and Order Processing at Simon & Schuster’s Riverside Distribution Center. Colin Shields was promoted to the newly created position of VP, Director of Global Digital and Online Sales.

DULY NOTED

Next year’s Winter Institute will be held in Denver, CO from January 24th to 26th.

Michael (Mickey) Choate passed away February 6^th. He was Owner of The Choate Agency, LLC.

Lerner Publishing Group acquired Egmont USA’s list of almost 100 titles.

Baker & Taylor sold its Baker & Taylor Merchandise Services division to ReaderLink. The sale included the publishing imprints Thunder Bay Press, Silver Dolphin, and Portable Press. Recently, B&T also sold YBP Library Services to EBSCO.

The Overlook Press will be sold and distributed by Norton beginning in May 2015. Previously, Penguin handled their sales and distribution.