People Round-Up, Mid-February 2017

PEOPLE

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has hired Jack Lynch as President and CEO. L. Gordon Crovitz will continue as interim CEO while Lynch wraps up his work as CEO of Renaissance Learning and relocates to Boston.

Cal Morgan has returned to publishing as VP, Executive Editor of Riverhead. He was previously Editorial Director for Harper Paperback and Perennial and had been with HarperCollins for sixteen years when he left in November 2015.

Nicole Dewey has been appointed Managing Director at Shreve Williams Public Relations, effective May 1. Dewey was most recently VP, Associate Publisher and Executive Director of Publicity for Little, Brown and Company.

Kristen Nobles has joined Page Street Publishing as Publisher to launch its new children’s book list. She was most recently Group Art Director for Candlewick Entertainment and Walker Entertainment.

Dark Horse Comics has hired Karen Berger, founder of the DC Comics Vertigo imprint, to start a new line of creator-owned comics and graphic novels, Berger Books.

At Bookmasters, Shawn Metts has been named VP of Sales, replacing Deb Keets, who retires after seventeen years with the company. Metts was most recently VP of Sales at F+W Media, where he worked for twelve years.

Denise Silvestro is joining Kensington’s Citadel Press imprint as Executive Editor, starting February 27. Silvestro was with the Berkley Publishing Group for twenty-one years, most recently as Executive Editor.

At Audible, Rose Hilliard has joined as Executive Editor in the Original Publishing division. She was previously Senior Editor at St. Martin’s.

Lauren Jackson has joined Tor as Senior Publicist. She had been Assistant Marketing Manager at Oxford University Press.

At agencies…Monika Woods has joined Curtis Brown as Literary Agent, moving over from the same position at InkWell Management. Molly Jaffa, currently Subsidiary Rights Manager and Literary Agent at Folio Literary Management, will join Mary Anne Thompson Associates as Senior Scout on March 7. Chris Wellbelove is moving to Aitken Alexander Associates as Agent, having previously worked in that role at Greene & Heaton.

At the Children’s Book Council/Every Child a Reader, Audra Boltion has joined as Media Consultant and Shifa Kapadwala has joined as Publicity Manager. Boltion is President and CEO of The Boltion Group Public Relations, and Kapadwala was previously Publicity Assistant at Simon & Schuster.

At Random House Children’s Books, Tara Grieco has joined as Marketing Coordinator, Licensed & Proprietary Brands. She had been Marketing Assistant at Simon & Schuster.

At Princeton Architectural Press, Susan Hershberg and Wes Seeley have joined as Publicity Managers. Hershberg was previously Associate Director of Publicity at America’s Test Kitchen, while Seeley was Publicity and Marketing Manager at Hal Leonard.

Amy Nathanson Heaslip is now Managing Editor at Highlights for Children Retail Group. She had been Executive Editor at Studio Fun International.

Dustin Kurtz has joined Catapult, Counterpoint, and Soft Skull as Social Media Editor. He was most recently Manager of Books & Books in the Cayman Islands and has previously worked at Melville House, McNally Jackson, and WORD Brooklyn.

At Sasquatch Books, Richael Best has joined as Marketing and Publicity Coordinator for adult titles. She was previously Bookseller at the Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle. In addition, Micah Nemerever has joined as Sales and Marketing Assistant. She was previously a librarian in Jefferson County Rural Library District.

James Magnuson will retire from his position as Director of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas in May. Magnuson became the program’s first (and, so far, only) full-time director in 1994. A search for his replacement is underway.

PROMOTIONS

George Coe will become COO for Follett Corporation and Baker & Taylor, effective March 31. He has been Follett Group President, Baker & Taylor and Follett School Solutions since the April 2016 acquisition of Baker & Taylor, prior to which he was President and CEO of Baker & Taylor.

Tiffany Tomlin has been named VP of the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau. She is also Executive Director.

Effective immediately, Sabrina Callahan has been promoted to Executive Director of Publicity at Little, Brown, replacing Nicole Dewey as she departs for Shreve Williams Public Relations.

At Picador, James Meader is now VP in addition to his position as Executive Director of Publicity; he will be ending his role as Publicist-at-Large for Henry Holt in order to focus on Picador’s original and reprint programs. In addition, Molly Fessenden has been promoted to Marketing Associate.

James Wehrle has been promoted to Executive Director of Sales for Workman Publishing and its distribution partners and will be responsible for book trade accounts. Chloe Puton has been promoted to Publicity Manager and Megan Harley has been promoted to Promotions Manager, both for the Workman imprint.

At Sasquatch Books, Executive Sales Director Jenny Abrami is now also Associate Publisher of Little Bigfoot, the company’s children’s imprint. Corinna Scott has been promoted to Senior Publicity and Marketing Manager for adult titles.

At Dutton, Emily Brock has been promoted to Senior Publicist and Jessica Renheim has been promoted to Senior Editor. Allison Judd has been promoted to Senior Publicist at Random House Children’s Books. Kendra Levin has been promoted to Executive Editor at Viking Children’s, while Maggie Rosenthal was promoted to Assistant Editor. At Crown, Will Wolfsau has been promoted to Associate Editor.

At agencies…Kira Watson has been promoted to Agent and Rights Manager at the Emma Sweeney Agency. At Aitken Alexander, Lesley Thorne, longtime head of the agency’s film and TV department, has been appointed Managing Director; Lisa Baker, Head of Translation Rights, is joining the board as a director.

Brandon Proia has been promoted to Senior Editor at the University of North Carolina Press.

DULY NOTED

The inaugural meeting of PubTechConnect, a joint venture of the NYU SPS Center for Publishing and Publishers Weekly, will be held on April 20. The day-long conference is geared towards helping those in publishing and media learn from other industries about new business strategies and technological advancement and will feature speakers from, to give a brief list, The New York Times, Vox, MailChimp, and Wired Media Group. Early bird registration will be available until February 28 at $599; full price is $799.

Consortium Book Sales & Distribution, an Ingram Publisher Services brand, announced five new publishers for Spring 2017: Animal Media Group LLC, Cassava Republic Press, Hoxton Mini Press, Iron Circus Comics, and Transit Books. All publishers began distribution on January 1, 2017 with the exception of Animal Media Group, which began distribution on September 1, 2016,

Fred Ramey, co-publisher of Unbridled Books, has launched Leaping Man, described as “a collaborative, not-for-profit publishing and production company exploring the intersection of visual, narrative, and performing arts.”