People Round-Up, Early April 2015

An update was added to the promotions section of the original post on 4/10/15.

Editor’s Note: Looking for an office in Manhattan? Market Partners International currently has a space available in its office near Grand Central Terminal. For more information, please email info@marketpartnersinternational.com.

PEOPLE

Jeannie Mun joined Oyster as CFO. She was previously CFO at the technology company MediaMath. Additionally, Barry McCarthy joined as Advisor. He was previously CFO at Netflix.

The Book Industry Study Group Executive Director Len Vlahos resigned, effective June 12^th. He and his wife Kristen Gilligan will join the Senior Management Team of the Tattered Cover bookstores, acquiring controlling interest of the business over the next two years from current Owner Joyce Meskis¸ who plans to retire when Vlahos and Gilligan take over.

Tom Reale is now COO at Brown Books Publishing Group. Most recently, he was VP, Special Projects at Academic Partnerships.

Alex Merrill joined Skyhorse Publishing in the newly created role of COO. Most recently, he was Group Publisher at Morris Media Network.

Jeanne-Marie Hudson is now VP, Director of Marketing at Berkley/NAL. She was previously Senior Director, Marketing Communications and Audience Development at St. Martin’s Press.

Lynn Cully returned to Kensington as Director of Sales. She previously held the positions of Sales Director and Publisher at the company from 1990-2000.

Luke Dempsey is now Executive Editor at HarperOne. Previously, he was Nonfiction Editorial Director at Ballantine.

Yulia Borodyanskaya is now Rights Director, Subsidiary and Foreign at Abrams Books. Previously, she was Director, International Rights at McGraw-Hill Education.

Susan Reich retired from her position as President at Publishers Group West on March 31^st. She can be reached at susanreich@gmail.com.

At literary agencies, Eric Myers joined Dystel & Goderich Literary Management as Agent. Previously, he was Agent at Spieler Agency. He will be bringing his client list with him. . . Maria Ribas joined Stonesong as Agent for Nonfiction. She was previously Agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency. Leila Campoli also joined Stonesong as an Agent, specializing in nonfiction. She was previously Editor at Palgrave Macmillan. . . Alli Brydon joined Bright Group Inc. as Managing Agent. Previously, she was Senior Editor at Sterling Children’s Books. . . Stephanie Abou joined Lippincott Massie McQuilkin as Agent. She was formerly at Foundry.

Christine Foltzer joined Tor.com as Associate Art Director. Previously, she was Assistant Art Director at Hachette.

In children’s publishing, Jennifer Besel joined Black Rabbit Books as Associate Publisher. She was previously Senior Editor at Capstone. . . Alix Reid is now Executive Editor at Carolrhoda Books and Carolrhoda Lab, overseeing a list of titles acquired from Egmont USA. Reid was Interim Editor-at-Large at Lerner. . .Kristin Carder joined Klutz as Editor. She was Designer and Illustrator at Braid Creative. Vicky Eva has also joined Klutz as Senior Sourcing Specialist. Formerly, Eva was Senior Vendor Account Manager at One Kings Lane.

Nadea Mina joined Open Road Integrated Media as Senior Publicist. She was formerly Senior Publicist at St. Martin’s Press.

Faith Black Ross joined Severn House as Acquiring Editor. She was formerly an Editor at Berkley.

Kyle Duncan is now VP, Publisher of Books and Media at David C Cook. Most recently, he was Principal of the publishing consulting firm Scriptorium.

Emily Williams is now Manager, Publisher Relations at educational non-profit Expeditionary Learning. She was previously Manager, Digital Content at Nook.

PROMOTIONS

Chantal Restivo-Alessi’s position as Chief Digital Officer at HarperCollins has expanded to include oversight of the publisher’s foreign language program as EVP, International. Update added to the original post on 4/10/15.

At William Morrow, Molly Birckhead was promoted to Marketing Director and May Chen to Executive Editor. Additionally at HarperCollins, Brian Perrin was promoted to Senior Director, Marketing and Digital Product Development at HarperWave and Harper Business. Kristin Rens is now Executive Editor at Balzer + Bray.

Jenny Todd was promoted to Publisher and Managing Director at Canongate. Jaime Byng, the previous Publisher, is now Chief Executive.

Denise Cronin was promoted to SVP, Director of Subsidiary Rights at Random House. Courtney Snyder was promoted to Associate Director, Domestic Rights at Crown Publishing Group. Additionally at Penguin Random House, Kell Wilson is now Marketing Manager, Licensing and Children’s at DK.

Rene Sears is now Editorial Director of PYR at Prometheus Books.

Caitlin Friedman was promoted to VP, Trade Marketing at Scholastic.

Catherine Casalino was promoted to Art Director and Designer at Grand Central Publishing and Twelve. Additionally at Grand Central, Jimmy Franco was promoted to Senior Director of Publicity, Linda Duggins to Senior Director of Publicity, and Andrew Duncan to Director, Online Marketing. Additionally at Twelve, Paul Samuelson is now Deputy Director of Publicity.

At Little, Brown, Flo Yue was promoted to Art Director, Marketing, Shawn Sarles to Project Director and Analyst, Carrie Neill to Publicity Manager, and Lauren Harms to Senior Designer. At Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Victoria Stapleton was promoted to Executive Director, School and Library Marketing and Kristina Aven to Senior Publicist.

Thomas Dunne Books promoted Marcia Markland to Executive Editor and Anne Brewer to Editor.

Katherine Devendorf was promoted to Senior Managing Editor at Simon & Schuster for Aladdin, Pulse, Little Simon, and Simon Spotlight. Christina Solazzo was promoted to Associate Managing Editor for Little Simon.

Chronicle promoted Albee Dalbotten to Marketing Director, Adult Trade and David Hawk to Senior Marketing and Publicity Manager, Food and Drink.

Abigail Welhouse was promoted to Publicist at Scott Manning & Associates.

DULY NOTED

OR Books and Evergreen Review announced a partnership where OR Books will manage the publishing properties of the literary magazine. OR Books Co-Publisher John Oakes was named Executive Director and Publisher by the Evergreen Review board.

Linda Kaplan launched Readmore Literary Management, a full-service international licensing agency. She was previously VP, Director of Subsidiary Rights at Crown.