People Round-Up, Early November 2015

PEOPLE

Libby McGuire will step down as EVP and Publisher at Ballantine Bantam Dell at the end of 2015. She can be reached at lmcguire000@gmail.com. Editor’s Note: Update added to the original post on 11/6.

Millicent Bennet is now Executive Editor at Grand Central Publishing. She was previously Senior Editor at Simon & Schuster. Editor’s Note: Update added to the original post on 11/6.

Craig Young rejoined Hachette Book Group as Deputy Publisher of Little, Brown. The position was previously held by Heather Fain, who will now focus entirely on her other role as SVP, Director of Market Strategy while also joining the Executive Management Board. Young was most recently VP, Associate Publisher at Ecco and was Sales Director at Little, Brown before that.

Mark Gompertz joined Skyhorse Publishing as Group Editorial Director. He was previously Creative Director, Content Extensions at Hearst Magazines.

Lindley Boegehold joined Clarkson Potter as Editorial Director, overseeing the Potter gift line. She was previously Editorial Director of Calendars, License, and Custom Publishing at Abrams.

Additionally at Penguin Random House, Random House VP, Executive Editor David Ebershoff has left the imprint after more than 20 years to focus on his own writing. Sophie Vershbow joined Penguin Random House as Publicity Social Media Manager. She was Digital Content Strategist at Verbal + Visual.

Priscilla McGeehon joined Thames & Hudson as Publisher of the textbook division. She was most recently Publisher at Bloomsbury imprint Fairchild Books.

becker&mayer! Co-Founder Jim Becker retired from the company. Mike Oprins will continue to oversee the 30-year-old company.

In children’s publishing, Sophia Pestun rejoined Scholastic Trade as Senior Financial Analyst. She was most recently Associate at Standard & Poor’s, and before that held various positions at Scholastic for three years. Suzanne Lagasa joined as Senior Designer. She was previously Designer at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. . . Georgia Morrissey joined Time Inc. Books as Art Director, Children’s and Beth Sutinis joined as Executive Editor, Children’s. Morrissey was most recently Art Director at Sky Pony Press and Sutinis was a freelance consultant at Time Inc. Books.

Joan Lee joined Insight Editions as Director of Marketing. Additionally, Kelly Reed joined as Senior Editor. Lee was most recently Senior Marketing Manager at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers and Reed was Senior Acquisitions Editor at Ulysses Press.

Gregory Henry joined Regan Arts as Assistant Publicity Director. He was Senior Publicity Manager at HarperCollins. Additionally, Gwyneth Stansfield joined as Publicity Manager. She was Senior Publicist at Scribner.

Paul Lamb joined William Morrow as Marketing Manager. He was a Literary Agent at Howard Morhaim Literary Agency.

Jen Keenan joined Little, Brown Books for Young Readers as Senior Designer.

Caroline Nitz joined Graywolf Press as Publicist. She was previously Publicist at Henry Holt. Additionally Casey O’Neil joined as Sales and Marketing Manager. She was Marketing Associate at Milkweed Editions.

Zachary Greenwald joined Artisan Books as Managing Editor. He was most recently Digital Product Manager at HarperCollins.

Jennifer Mishler is now Editor at Entangled Publishing. She was previously Literary Agent at Literary Counsel.

At literary agencies, Mitch Hoffman will join Aaron Priest Literary Agency as Senior Agent at the end of November. He was Executive Editor at Grand Central Publishing. . . Adriann Ranta joined Foundry Literary + Media as Literary Agent. She brings her clients from Wolf Literary Services with her. . . Michelle Brower joined Kuhn Projects and Zachary Shuster Harmsworth as Agent. She was previously Agent at Folio Literary Management. Lori Galvin also joined Zachary Shuster Harmsworth as Agent, based in their Boston office. She was Executive Editor at America’s Test Kitchen. . . Mandy Hubbard has left D4EO Literary Agency to form Emerald City Literary Agency, which will focus on middle grade, YA, and romance.

Author Aimee Nezhukumatahil joined Orion as Poetry Editor.

PROMOTIONS

Andy Ward was promoted to President and Editor-in-Chief at Random House, focusing on adult nonfiction. Cathy Goldsmith was promoted to President and Publisher of the beginner books line and Dr. Seuss publishing program at Random House. She was Associate Publishing Director of Random House/Golden Books. Lindsay Prevette was promoted to Director of Publicity at Viking, effective December 1^st, taking over for Carolyn Coleburn, who will be taking on the new role of VP, Executive Publicist. Matthew Boyd was promoted to Associate Publisher and Marketing director of Penguin Press. Denise Oswald was promoted to Executive Editor at Dey Street Books. Christine Mykityshyn, Nicole Morano, and Poonam Mantha were promoted to Publicists at Penguin Random House.

Scholastic, Inc. promoted Lori Benton to VP, Digital Publisher and President of Weston Woods and Scholastic Audio, Tracy Mack to VP, Publisher, Charisse Meloto to VP, Publicity Brand Strategy, Anne Henderson to Senior Director, Planning and Operations, and Leslie Garych to VP, Managing Editor. Morgan Baden was promoted to VP, International Communications and Social Media, Anne Sparkman to Director, Corporate Communications, Duryan Bhagat-Clark to Senior Director, Frontlist Planning and Managing Editor of Audio and Weston Woods, and Erin Davis to Creative Director, Corporate Design. Additionally, Scholastic Trade promoted Walter Olalekan to Associate Director, Finance and Inventory Management, Rachael Hicks to Senior Production Director, and Elizabeth Krych to Senior Production Editor.

Marisa Atkinson was promoted to Director of Marketing and Engagement at Graywolf.

Baker Publishing Group promoted Jim Kinney to EVP, Academic Publishing and Jennifer Leep to EVP, Trade Publishing.

Thames & Hudson promoted Harry Burton to Publicity and Marketing Director.

Mahinder Kingra was promoted to Editor-in-Chief at Cornell University Press, effective January 2016.

Kimberly Goldstein was promoted to Director of Managing Editorial for the adult imprints at Simon & Schuster. Additionally, Maureen Cole was promoted to Senior Publicity Manager.

McGraw-Hill Education promoted Donya Dickerson to Editorial Director of the business group.

Cave Hendricks Communications promoted Megan Grajeda and Kimberly Petty to Senior Publicists.

Sarah Younger was promoted to Agent at Nancy Yost Literary Agency.

Cynthia Shannon was promoted to Author Marketing Specialist at Goodreads.

DULY NOTED

In January, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will become the publishing partner of Weber-Stephen Products, which manufactures outdoor grills. Weber titles were previously published through an agreement with Oxmoor House.