People Round-Up, Mid-March 2019

PEOPLE

Many changes in Children’s Books:

Arthur Levine, Publisher of Arthur A. Levine Books, is leaving Scholastic “to form his own independent publishing company.” His backlist, including the Harry Potter series, remains at Scholastic.

At Random House Books for Young Readers, Sonali Fry joins as VP, Publishing Director, effective March 29. She was formerly Publisher at Bonnier Publishing USA and Founder of the little bee, BuzzPop, and Yellow Jacket imprints. Megan Roth, previously Editor at Disney Publishing Worldwide, joins Penguin Random House as Senior Editor.

At HarperCollins Children’s Books, Sari Murray, lately Director, Marketing & Publicity at Sterling Publishing, joins as Director, Publicity. Justine Sha joins Harlequin as Publicist, moving over from her prior role as Associate Publicist at Other Press. Also joining Harlequin is Roxanne Jones, now Senior Publicist for MIRA, Park Row Books, and Hanover Square Press. She had been Publicist at Berkley.

Ellen Kokontis, formerly Associate Art Director at Albert Whitman & Company, joins Cottage Door Press as Art Director.

Barnes & Noble has hired Carlo Pochintesta as Chief Information Officer. He was previously CIO at Rag & Bone Holdings. Also joining the company is Joe Gorman, EVP, Operations, lately of GNC in the same role, and Sasha Quinton, VP and General Merchandise Manager, Bookstore. Quinton has most recently served as SVP, Marketing and Procurement for ReaderLink Distribution Services.

Following the company’s sale to Insight Editions, Amy Kaneko, formerly SVP of Sales and Marketing for Weldon Owen, has taken on the role of Packaging, Custom, and Proprietary Sales for Weldon Owen, Insight Editions, and iSeek.

Ken Holland, VP and Director of Field Sales at Macmillan, will retire on May 14. He has been with the company for twenty-two years.

Karen Shnek Lippman joins Bert Davis Executive Search as Vice President; she was most recently Managing Director at Koller Search Partners.

At Abrams, Kim Lauber has joined as Senior Director, Marketing, Children’s Books. She was most recently Director of Marketing at Random House Books for Young Readers.

At Chronicle Books, Jennifer Jensen has joined as Associate Director of Marketing, Prism. She was Associate Director of Marketing at HarperOne. Brittany McInerney joins as Senior Editor, Entertainment; previously, she was Editor at Hachette Book Group. Additionally, Aubrey Rojas has joined as Social Media Manager.

Deirdre Dolan, Associate Sales Director, is retiring from W.W. Norton after nearly thirty-seven years with the company.

In agency news…Allison Devereux joins The Cheney Agency as Agent and Foreign Rights Director. She was previously Agent and Foreign Rights Manager at MacKenzie Wolf. Jan Baumer, formerly Acquisitions Editor at HarperOne, joins Folio Literary Management as Agent.

Rachel Mars, formerly Marketing Manager for Zondervan Bibles, joins The Parable Group as Senior Marketing Strategist.

Keith Arsenault has joined commission group Chesapeake & Hudson as New England Field Sales Rep. He was most recently National Account Manager for PGW/Ingram Content Group.

Susan Fissell, formerly Director of Special Markets at Hachette Book Group, has joined Simon & Schuster as National Accounts Sales Manager, while Janea Brachfield, formerly Trade and Gift Sales Manager at Storey Publishing, joins as Telemarketing Account Manager. Tara Schlesinger joins Gallery as Senior Digital Marketing Manager, moving over from her previous role as Digital Marketing and Publicity Specialist at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

At Holiday House, Emily Mannon joins as Trade Marketing Coordinator. Previously she was Marketing and Project Coordinator at Trustbridge.

Katie Moore, formerly Editor at Callisto Media, joins Magination Press as Senior Editor.

Naomi Kennedy has joined Hachette Book Group as National Accounts Coordinator, Children’s Sales. Previously she was Fifth Avenue Trade Sales Assistant at Macmillan. Seema Mahanian joins Grand Central Publishing as Editor; she was formerly Manager of Publishing Accounts at Pronoun.

At Abbeville Press, Colette Laroya, formerly Editor & Publicity Manager at Hippocrene Books, Inc., is joining as Marketing & Publicity Manager.

Annie Nybo, Editor at Albert Whitman & Company, has left that role and can be contacted at annienyboeditorial@gmail.com.

At The Experiment, Olivia Peluso joins as Associate Editor. She was previously Editorial Assistant at Portfolio/Sentinel.

PROMOTIONS

Hachette Book Group sees four promotions at the executive level. These are Michelle Aielli, now VP, Associate Publisher; Krishan Trotman, now Executive Editor; Michael Barrs, now Senior Director of Marketing; and Mandy Kain, now Creative Director. Also at Hachette, Anna Hall becomes Marketing and Publicity Associate, Odette Fleming becomes Senior Marketing Associate, Mollie Weisenfeld becomes Assistant Editor, and David Lamb moves up to Associate Editor. At Basic Books, Kelsey Odorczyk and Kait Howard are now Senior Publicists and Ann Kirchner is now Senior Designer.

At Folio Literary Management, John Cusick, Erin Harris, Katherine Latshaw, and Melissa Sarver White have each been promoted to VP.

Maria Modugno is now Executive Editorial Director of Random House Books for Young Readers. At Knopf Books for Young Readers, Erin Clarke becomes Editorial Director, Kelly Delaney becomes Editor, and Karen Greenberg and Marisa Dinovishas move up to become Associate Editors. Dana Carey is now Associate Editor of Wendy Lamb Books. At Penguin Random House Audio, Catherine Bucaria has been promoted to Assistant Director of Acquisitions and Editorial Operations. Jillian Vandal is now Associate Director, Publicity at Random House Children’s.

Paul Olsewski has been appointed Senior Publicity Director for Amistad, HarperEspañol, and HarperVia.

At Macmillan, Christine Jaeger has been promoted to Senior Director for Trade and Inside Sales, Cristina Cushing moves up to Senior National Accounts Manager, Astra Berzinskas moves up to Senior Director for Merchandise, and Jen Golding becomes National Accounts Manager for Canada Kids.

Elsewhere in the company: Nichole Argyres has been named Senior Publishing Manager at St. Martin’s Publishing Group. At Flatiron Books, Nancy Trypuc has become VP, Executive Director of Marketing, while Marlena Bittner moves up to VP, Executive Director of Publicity. Amelia Possanza has been promoted to Assistant Director of Publicity, and Kimberly Escobar and Patricia Cave both become Senior Publicists. Erin Gordon is now Senior Designer and Kelly Gatesman is now Associate Designer. Bryn Clark has been promoted to Senior Associate Editor. At Minotaur Books, Catherine Richards moves up to Executive Editor, while Sarah Melnyk becomes Assistant Director of Publicity for St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur. Nettie Finn is now Assistant Editor for both imprints as well. At St. Martin’s, Joel Goldschein becomes Senior Director of Marketing and Sales Operations, Kim Ludlam moves up to Director of Creative Services and Martin Quinn is now Associate Director of Marketing. Both Jessica Zimmerman and Jessica Preeg become Assistant Director of Publicity. Erik Platt has been promoted to Senior Manager for Digital Advertising Operations, while Joe Brosnan, Danielle Prielipp, and Marissa Sangiacomo have each been promoted to Senior Marketing Manager. DJ DeSmyter becomes Marketing Manager and Dylan Helstien moves up to Assistant Manager of Advertising Operations. Kevin Reilly, Alice Pfeifer, and Gwen Hawkes become Assistant Editors, and Lauren Jablonski and Sylvan Creekmore become Associate Editors. At Tom Doherty and Associates, Megan Barnard is now AdPromo Assistant Creative Director and Julia Bergen becomes AdPromo Associate Marketing Manager. Colleen Lowrie has been promoted to Executive Editor at PublicAffairs, while Miguel Cervantes and Josie Urwin move up to become, respectively, Assistant Marketing Manager and Publicity Manager at PublicAffairs/Bold Type Books.

At Sourcebooks, Kelly Lawler has been promoted to Creative Director, Adult and YA, while Travis Hasenour becomes Production Designer and Jessica Zulli becomes Production Manager. At Bloomsbury, Katya Mezhibovskaya has been promoted to Assistant Art Director and Tree Abraham becomes Senior Designer. At Bloomsbury Children’s Books, Oona Patrick moves up to Senior Production Editor and Nick Sweeney moves up to Assistant Production Editor.

Anne Heltzel has been promoted to Executive Editor, Amulet/Abrams Children’s. Also at the imprint, Erica Finkel moves up to Senior Editor, while Emily Daluga becomes Assistant Editor. Pam Notarantonio is now Art Director, Children’s Books and ComicArts, and Max Temescu becomes Assistant Designer.

Judy Bass has become Publisher at Industrial Press.

At Montlake Romance, Maria Gomez has been promoted to Executive Editor.

In agency news…Linda Epstein has been promoted to Senior Agent at Emerald City Literary, where Garrett Alwert has also been promoted to Associate Agent.

At Chronicle Books, Kevin Armstrong has been promoted to Senior Production Designer. Samantha Steele becomes National Accounts Manager, Morgan Amer becomes Sales Manager, and Kathleen Miller becomes Associate Sales Manager, while Natalie Butterfield has been promoted to Assistant Editor, Art and Sarah Lin Go moves up to Art Marketing Manager. Jamie Real becomes Associate Managing Editor. Julia Patrick is now Editor, Entertainment.

At Avalon Travel, Nikki Ioakimedes has been promoted to Acquisitions Manager for Moon Travel Guides. Kristi Mitsuda is now Editor, Lisi Baldwin has become Digital Production Manager, and Ravina Schneider becomes Production Designer.

At MIT Press, Matthew Browne is now Acquisitions Editor.

Ryan Harrington moves up to Senior Editor at Melville House.

DULY NOTED

In scouting news: Lucy Abrahams is now literary scout for Harper Canada and for the Harper imprint in the US. Denmark’s JP/Politikens has appointed Maria B. Campbell Associates as its global scout. Additionally, Del Commune Enterprises is now US scout for Sweden’s Modernista Group.

As of this spring, Ingram Publisher Services handles sales and distribution in the US and Canada for Perilous Worlds and Chiltern Publishing.

Ingram Academic Services now handles Cambridge University Press’s sales and distribution to independent retailers, independent university bookstores, Christian bookstores, and gift and museum retailers across the US and Canadian national chains.