People Round-Up, Early March 2017

March 9, 2017

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PEOPLE

Lucille Rettino has been named VP, Marketing and Publicity, at Tom Doherty Associates, the Macmillan division including Tor, Forge, Tor Teen, and Starscape. She was previously VP, Director of Marketing, at Simon & Schuster Children’s.

At Dutton, John Parsley has been named VP, Editor-in-Chief, a role that was vacated when Ben Sevier departed to become Publisher at Grand Central. As Parsley was previously VP, Executive Editor at Little, Brown, this is a nearly even trade between companies.

Chris Navratil, formerly Publisher at Running Press, has joined Weldon Owen as Associate Publisher of their new gift-book line, Blue Streak Books. Blue Streak will launch in the spring and aims to publish approximately twenty-five illustrated titles annually for the global market, with Simon & Schuster handling distribution in North America.

At the Feminist Press, Jennifer Baumgardner has announced that she will be leaving her position as Executive Director and Publisher effective May 31. The search for her replacement has begun.

Shelly Bond, former Executive Editor of DC Entertainment’s Vertigo imprint, is joining IDW Publishing as Senior Editor, Special Projects, and will launch creator-owned imprint Black Crown in October.

At Globe Pequot, Ursula Cary has joined as Executive Editor of Falcon. She was previously Senior Editor at Rodale.

Shannon Welch is leaving her position as Executive Editor at Scribner to pursue freelance editorial and writing opportunities.

At Penguin Random House, Timothy Cheng has been appointed to the newly-created position of Digital Marketing Manager, Education; he was previously Director of Sales at Simon & Schuster. Carolyn Gill has joined Clarkson Potter as Marketing Manager, having previously worked at the New York City Wine & Food Festival, the International Culinary Center, and Disney Publishing Worldwide. At Random House Children’s, Elizabeth Ward has joined as Associate Director of Digital Content Strategy, having worked previously as Associate Director of Brand and Marketing for the teen category of HarperCollins. Margaux Weisman is now Editor at Vintage/Anchor. She was previously Associate Editor at William Morrow. At Crown Archetype, Jesse Aylen has left his role as Assistant Editor to transition to freelance editing and writing.

Ashley Despain has joined Chronicle Books as Associate Production Developer, Children’s. He was previously Children’s Book Buyer at Green Apple Books.

Nick Sweeney has joined Bloomsbury Children’s as Assistant Production Editor. He was formerly a freelance production editor.

At agencies…Kiele Raymond has joined Thompson Literary Agency as Senior Agent after working as a freelance editor. Kari Sutherland has joined Bradford Literary Agency as Agent; she was previously Editor at Harper Children’s.

Eliza Smith has joined Albert Whitman as Editor. She previously worked as Associate Editor at Alloy Entertainment.

At Duke University Press, Jennifer Schaper has joined as Sales Manager. She previously worked as Senior Manager for International Rights at Perseus Books Group.

Madison Taylor has joined Page Street Publishing as Publicity and Marketing Assistant.

Erin Somers has joined as Reporter at Publishers Lunch and Sarah Weinman, News Editor, is on a leave of absence to complete her forthcoming book, Among the Wholesome Children.

Heidi Powell, manager of the children and teens department of Politics & Prose Bookstore in Washington, DC, is leaving to join An Open Book Foundation, a nonprofit she cofounded with Dara Le Port six years ago. Powell had been with Politics & Prose for fourteen years.

PROMOTIONS

Martha Bucci has been appointed Executive Director of Chain Sales and Little, Brown Sales Liaison at the Hachette Book Group. She has spent the last four years as Executive Director of the Hachette Book Group Canada.

Also at Little, Brown, Brandon Kelley has been promoted to Executive Director of Marketing Operations. Kaitlyn Boudah is now Marketing Coordinator. Maggie Southard has been promoted to Senior Publicist and Julie Ertl to Publicist. Jean Garnett has been promoted to Editor and Carina Guiterman to Associate Editor. At the team that publishes James Patterson, Bill Robinson has been promoted to Director, Brand Development; Erinn McGrath, to Associate Director of Publicity, James Patterson; Sabrina Benun, Senior Marketing Manager; Sean Comstock, Marketing Associate; and Shawn Sarles, Sales & Marketing Analyst. At Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Jenny Choy moves up to Associate Director, School & Library Marketing; Kristina Pisciotta, to Publicity Manager; Russ Busse, to Associate Editor, Licensing, Brand and Media Tie-Ins; Kheryn Callender, to Assistant Editor; and Nicole Brown, to Junior Designer.

Maddie Caldwell has been promoted to Editor at Grand Central, while Morgan Hedden and Katherine Stopa have both been promoted to Assistant Editor. Amanda Pritzker has moved to the newly-created position of Associate Director, Marketing and Brand Director for Nicholas Sparks. Stephanie Sirabian has been promoted to Associate Director, Advertising. At Twelve, Bailey Donoghue has been promoted to Publicist.

At Baker & Taylor, David Cully has been promoted to President, following George Coe’s promotion from that position to Chief Operating Officer.

Brent Howard moves over from Berkley to Dutton as Executive Editor, bringing the Caliber military history list with him. Allison Lorentzen has been promoted to Executive Editor at Viking. At Clarkson Potter, Natasha Martin is now Senior Publicist.

At Bookmasters, Brad Sharp has been promoted to Director of Manufacturing.

At Bloomsbury, Editorial Director Nancy Miller is now also Associate Publisher. At Bloomsbury Children’s, Mary Kate Castellani has been promoted to Executive Editor; Hali Baumstein, to Associate Editor; and Emily Ritter, to Marketing Manager.

Sarah Lin Go has been promoted to Marketing and Publicity Associate Manager, Art, Stationary and Formats at Chronicle Books.

Cave Henricks Communications has promoted Margaret Kingsbury to Publicity Director and Kimberly Petty to the newly-created position of Head of Marketing and Social Media.

Stephanie Knapp has been promoted to Senior Editor at Seal Press.

At Beacon Press, both Rachael Marks and Will Myers have been promoted to Editor.

At Sourcebooks, Tiana Marzette has been promoted to Inside Sales Representative.

Kristina Fazzalaro has been promoted to Publicist at Public Affairs, while Jane Robbins Mize moves to Assistant Editor.

DULY NOTED

In celebration of its two hundredth anniversary, HarperCollins has announced a yearlong global campaign, the centerpiece of which is a website showcasing the publisher’s history and influence. The company’s social media accounts will also be involved, and readers are invited to join the festivities with the hashtag #hc200.

Effective July 1, Hachette Book Group will handle North American sales and distribution services for Quercus and Teach Yourself’s Michel Thomas and John Murray Languages courses. Oxford University Press will receive and process returns until September 30, but Hachette will begin to accept returns on July 1.

Maria Campbell Associates is now working for Netflix as their exclusive literary scout. MCA had spent the last sixteen years scouting for Warner Bros., New Line, and Warner Bros. Television, which relationship concluded at the end of February.

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.

Signet LLC, an Ohio-based private investment firm, has made its third acquisition in the graphic arts and publishing industry in three years by acquiring BindTech of Nashville, TN. BindTech is one of the largest private trade binderies and book manufacturers in the country.

Penguin Random House has announced that Crown will continue as the ongoing publisher of former president Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama. Rachel Klayman remains Mr. Obama’s editor, while Molly Stern will edit Mrs. Obama’s book. Publication strategy for both books will be led by David Drake and Tina Constable.