People Round-Up, Early August 2018

PEOPLE

At Barnes & Noble Education, Jonathan Shar joins as SVP, Revenue & Product Development. He was previously Chief Marketing Officer, NOOK at Barnes & Noble. At Barnes & Noble, Chief Digital Officer Fred Argir has retired and his position will be filled by Bill Wood, most recently Chief Information Officer.

Atria has merged its publicity and marketing teams into an integrated marketing department. Consequently, Kristin Fassler has joined Atria in the new position of VP, Director of Integrated Marketing; she was most recently VP, Director of Marketing at Random House, overseeing Ballantine Bantam Dell. Dana Trocker, Director of Marketing at the Simon & Schuster trade imprint, will move over to Atria in that position. Paul Olsewski, VP, Director of Publicity, will leave Atria and his position will be eliminated. Also departing the company is Mitchell Ivers, VP, Editorial Director of Threshold Editions; this leaves Threshold without leadership, though a representative has indicated that the imprint will continue. At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Emily Ritter joins as Digital & Social Marketing Manager. She was most recently Marketing Manager at Bloomsbury Children’s.

Cristopher Garrido has joined HarperCollins Christian Publishing as VP, Publisher for the Spanish publishing program. He previously developed and directed a Spanish publishing program at Lifeway Christian Resources. At Harper, Sarah Stein joins as Senior Editor, moving over from that position at Penguin Books.

Cristina Gilbert joins Flatiron Books as VP, Associate Publisher on August 27. Most recently she was VP, Sales and Marketing for Bloomsbury. Sarah Cantin joins St. Martin’s Press as Executive Editor; previously she was Senior Editor at Atria. At Macmillan Children’s, Alexandra Hernandez joins as Associate Publicist, moving over from her previous position as Publicity Assistant at Oxford University Press. Also, due to restructuring at Picador, Marketing Manager Shannon Donnelly, Creative Director Henry Yee, Senior Designer LeeAnn Falciani, and Associate Editor Pronoy Sarkar are departing. Donnelly, Yee, and Falciani leave this month; Sarkar’s last day is November 30.

Lori Dunbar joins Ingram Content Group as VP, Application Services. She was previously Chief Technology Officer at GE Healthcare. Tori Cushman also joins as Sales & Support Representative, Mass Merchandise; she was most recently Sales Assistant at Skyhorse Publishing. Megan Smith also joins this section of the company as Specialty Retail Manager, having worked previously as Manager, Category Management/VMI at Ingram Entertainment.

At online licensing and admissions exam prep company UWorld, Evan Schnittman joins as VP, Sales & Business Development. He was previously CEO and Co-Founder of OptiQly.

At Chronicle Books, Shelley Sanders has been hired as Director of National Specialty and Mass Market Sales. She worked previously as National Sales Manager and Consultant for Identity Games International BV. Karen Finlay, most recently Senior Manager for National Accounts and Field Sales at Lonely Planet, also joins as National Account Manager, Barnes & Noble and Ingram.

Stephen Hull will join the University of New Mexico Press as Director on September 17 and will also serve as Professor of Practice in Publishing for the University of New Mexico’s College of Libraries and Learning Sciences. He was previously Editor and Publisher at the University Press of New England.

In other university press news, Joe Durepos will retire from his role as Executive Director of Loyola Press at the end of October. He has been with the publisher for nearly seventeen years.

Nancy Sheppard joins Basic Books as Marketing Director on August 13. She most recently held that position at St. Martin’s Press. At Orbit, Priyanka Krishnan joins as Editor, having previously worked in that role at Harper Voyager.

At Harvard Business Review Press, Erika Heilman joins as Commercial Director and Associate Publisher, taking over from Keith Pfeffer, who left to become Associate VP, Trade Sales, North America at Callisto Media. Heilman co-founded Bibliomotion and worked previously as Managing Director at Carpedea.

Also joining Callisto this month is Mary Amicucci, SVP, Strategic Partnerships and Brand Ventures; she was formerly Chief Merchandising Officer at Barnes & Noble.

Penny Moore joins Aevitas Creative Management as Agent. She was previously Agent at Empire Literary.

In the Random House Publishing Group, Danielle Siess joins as Manager, Creative Content, moving over from her previous role as Associate Publicist, Social Media & Special Events at Penguin Random House. At DK, Savannah D’Amico joins as Library-Wholesale National Account Manager. Most recently she was Special Markets Sales Associate at Scholastic. And at Portfolio/Sentinel, Mary Kate Skehan joins as Assistant Marketing Manager. Skehan was previously Senior Literary Scout at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.

At Kensington, Ann Pryor has been hired as Senior Communications Manager, handling nonfiction and mystery. She was most recently Senior Marketing Manager at Atria.

Annette Windhorn has joined the Association of University Presses as External Communications Manager; she was previously Program Coordinator for the Distinguished Lectureship Program at the Organization of American Historians. Also joining the association are Program Coordinator Angelica DeVoe, previously Associate Program Manager at WebMD, and Communications Program Manager Kate Kolendo, previously Project Manager and PROSE Award Administrator for the professional and scholarly publishing division of the Association of American Publishers.

At the American Psychological Association, Chi Wang joins as Books Marketing Manager, Academic and Professional Publishing and APA Style. Previously she was Books Marketing Manager at the American Chemical Society.

At Bonnier Publishing USA, Brett Duquette joins little bee and Yellow Jacket as Senior Editor; he most recently held that position at Sterling Publishing. Rachel Gluckstern, lately Production Editor at Scholastic, joins BuzzPop as Editor. And Lauren Carr, most recently Publicity Coordinator at Scholastic, joins the children’s group as Publicist.

Kendall Storey has joined Catapult/Counterpoint/Soft Skull as Associate Editor and Publishing Manager. She was previously Associate Editor and Publicist at Archipelago Books and Co-Director of children’s imprint Elsewhere Editions. At Catapult, Matt Ortile joins as Digital Managing Editor. He was most recently Global Publishing Lead for BuzzFeed International and is the founding editor of BuzzFeed Philippines.

PROMOTIONS

Jenn Gonzalez has been promoted to EVP, Director of Sales at Macmillan, taking over from Alison Lazarus.

At Penguin Random House and its subsidiaries: Susan Corcoran has been promoted to SVP, Director of Publicity at Random House and will be responsible for title publicity for all imprints, while Leigh Marchant moves up to SVP, Director, Marketing and Business Development. Barbara Fillon is now VP, Director of Marketing and Media Coaching. Jess Bonet is now Marketing Manager. Maria Braeckel, Director of Publicity for Random House, Dial Press, Modern Library, One World, and Spiegel & Grau, has been promoted to VP, and Andrea Deward moves up to Associate Director of Marketing for those imprints as well. In addition, Erika Seyfried has been named Director, Content Services. Erica Curtis has been promoted to VP, Director of Marketing Strategy and Campaigns & Analytics, while Max Minckler has become Senior Director, Consumer Insights. Lynn Kovach moves up to VP, Director of National Accounts, Random House Adult. Cletus Durkin has been promoted to VP, Education Distributor Sales. Justine LeCates has been appointed VP, Director of US Finance, and Yvonne Ricciuti becomes Senior Director of Financial Systems. At Ballantine Bantam Dell, Jennifer Garza becomes Director of Publicity and Quinne Rogers moves up to Director of Marketing; the Random House publicity department sees Greg Kubie promoted to Associate Director of Publicity and Dhara Parikh promoted to Senior Publicist. Jessica Brock is now Senior Publicist and Digital Media Strategist. At Random House Publishing Group, Kesley Tiffey has been promoted to Senior Manager, Consumer Insights. Farin Schlussel has been promoted to Assistant Marketing Director at Avery and TarcherPerigee. And at Dutton, Marya Pasciuto has become Assistant Editor.

Michelle Komie has been promoted to Publisher, Art and Architecture at Princeton University Press. In addition, Hannah Paul has been promoted to Associate Editor for Economics and Political Science, and Lauren Bucca, Thalia Leaf, Pamela Weidman, and Kristin Zodrow have each been promoted to Editorial Associate. Debra Liese moves up to Social Media Content and Partnerships Manager, and Katie Lewis becomes Senior Publicist. Chris Ferrante has been promoted to Senior Designer. Stephanie Rojas becomes Social Media Specialist, while Matt Taylor was promoted to Direct Marketing and Social Media Associate.

Melinda Merino has been promoted to Editorial Director and Associate Publisher of Harvard Business Review Press.

At the Association of University Presses, Kim Miller moves up to Business Manager; Susan Patton, to Membership & Events Director; and Brenna McLaughlin, to the new title of Research & Communications Director.

At Ingram Content Group, Leslie Jobson has been promoted to Manager, Sales & Support for Ingram Publisher Services and Destiny Womack becomes Customer Success Manager for Aerio.

Nica Carillo moves up to Marketing and Sales Manager at Coffee House Press, and Mandy Medley becomes Publicity Director.

At Chronicle Books, Camille Geeter moves up to Trade Sales Coordinator and Eve Brodsly moves up to Sales & Marketing Materials Coordinator.

Stephani Stilwell has been promoted to Designer at Bonnier Publishing US, where Michael Ploetz has also been promoted to Coordinator, Marketing & Publicity.

At Little, Brown, Nicky Guerreiro has been promoted to Associate Editor.

Norma Perez-Hernandez is now Assistant Editor at Kensington. Samantha McVeigh moves up to Assistant Communications Manager, and James Akinaka becomes Communications Associate, handling sci fi, fantasy, and horror.

At Orbit, Bradley Englert has been promoted to Editor.

At the Tattered Cover, Bethany Strout has been promoted to Director of Buying.

DULY NOTED

Beginning January 1, 2019, Simon & Schuster will distribute Skyhorse in the US and most markets worldwide. Skyhorse was previously distributed by Two Rivers Distribution/Ingram Distribution Services. It will continue to be distributed in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son and in South Africa by Peter Hyde & Associates.

In other distribution news, Casemate Group will begin distributing Bauhan Publishing on November 1 and the International Polar Institute on January 1. They are currently distributed by the University Press of New England, which is closing at the end of 2018.

Jennifer Crewe, Director of the Columbia University Press, took over as President of the Association of University Presses in June. Her announced initiatives include the establishment of both a Statistics Review Task Force and a Gender, Equity, and Cultures of Respect Task Force, as well as the transformation of the Diversity & Inclusion Task Force into a formal committee.

The Jerusalem Book Fair has been renamed the Jerusalem International Book Forum. Its next gathering, running May 15-19, 2019, will forego a convention hall in favor of a “dynamic ‘forum’ at various Jerusalem locations.”

Darin Webb, the former Donadio & Olson bookkeeper accused of embezzling over $3.4 million from that agency between 2001 and last March, pleaded guilty on July 25 to one count of wire fraud. He will be sentenced in New York federal court on November 26.

Wiley Saichek celebrates five years this month as the owner/founder of Saichek Publicity.