People Round-Up, Mid-August 2019

PEOPLE

At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Mike Evans joins as Chief Revenue Officer on September 16. He was most recently Chief Financial Officer at McGraw-Hill Education. Rachel Sanders, most recently Marketing Director at ReaderLink, joins as Director, Field Sales and Events. Additionally, Debbie Engel has retired as VP, Subsidiary Rights.

Jackie De Leo, formerly VP of Merchandising and Product Management at ReaderLink, rejoins the Disney Book Group as VP of Sales. Jennifer Diiulio joins as VP of Sales, Target.

Olivia Russo joins Penguin Children’s as Senior Director, Publicity on September 3. She was formerly Publicity Director at HarperCollins Children’s Books. At Penguin Random House Publisher Services, Allison Devlin has joined as Director, Client Services. She was most recently VP, Sales and Marketing at F+W. At Harmony Rodale, Lindsey Kennedy joins as Assistant Director of Publicity; she had been Publicity Manager at Sounds True. At Penguin Random House Audio, Juliette Koronkiewicz, formerly Digital Marketing Manager at Unilever/Sundial Brands, joins as Senior Social Media Manager. At Random House Children’s Books, Anika Bates joins as Marketing Coordinator; Michelle Kim, formerly Designer, Teacher Resources at Scholastic, joins as Designer, Brands and Licensing; and Laura Hernandez, formerly Marketing Coordinator at DK, joins as Associate Digital Marketing Manager. Sarah New joins Knopf as Publicist, moving over from her previous role as Associate Publicist at Bloomsbury, while Danielle Plafsky moves from her role as Assistant Director of Marketing at Knopf to become Associate Marketing Director at Penguin Press. Rebecca Brewer has departed her position as Editor at Ace/Berkley and can be reached at rebeccacbr@gmail.com.

At Arcadia Publishing, Amy Kaneko joins as Director of National Sales and Marketing; she had previously worked in Packaging, Custom, and Proprietary Sales for Weldon Owen, Insight Editions, and iSeek. Kaneko replaces Kate Everingham, who will transition to Director of Sales Operations on September 3 before formally departing the company on December 3.

At Harper Horizon, a new nonfiction imprint from HarperCollins Focus specializing in memoirs, biographies, and self-help, Andrea Flick-Nesbit (formerly Director of Content Acquisition at Ingram Content Group) joins as VP, Publisher. At the Morrow Group, Pamela Barricklow joins as Executive Managing Editor, a title she previously held at Berkley/New American Library. Brittany Mitchell, previously Assistant Manager, School & Library Marketing at Bloomsbury, joins Inkyard Press as Marketing Manager.

In agency news…Maria Napolitano, formerly Scout at Aram Fox, joins Bookcase Literary Agency as Agent. Allison Hellegers joins Stimola Literary Studio on August 12 as Literary Agent and Subrights Director; she was previously Foreign Rights Director and US Co-Agent for Rights People. At Speilburg Literary Agency, Lindsey Smith, Co-Founder of One Idea Press and the Wild Rose Collective, joins as Agent. Sam Morgan joins The Lotts Agency as Literary Agent; he previously held that title at Foundry Literary + Media. Wendi Gu returns to Sanford J. Greenburger Associates as Agent, having spent the last two years working at Janklow & Nesbit as Associate Agent, and Sarah Phair joins SJGA as Agent, having previously held that title at Trident Media Group. Cindy Uh has departed Thompson Literary Agency, where she was Senior Literary Agent. Joining JKS Communications are Jennifer Vance, Publicist, previously Designer and Copy Editor at the Advocate; Jackie Karneth, Publicist; and Brittany Kennel, Digital Marketing Specialist.

Michael Zarley joins Sourcebooks as Controller. Michelle Denny also joins the company as Reprint Buyer, Manufacturing.

At Avid Reader Press, Alexandra Primiani, previously Associate Director of Publicity at Melville House, joined as Publicity Manager. Leslie Davisson joins Simon & Schuster as National Accounts Manager, moving over from her previous role as Sales and Marketing Director at Pomegranate Communications.

Katharina Gadow joins Workman Publishing as National Account Manager, Online Sales. She was previously National Account Manager at DK. At Erewhon, Sarah Guan, formerly Associate Editor at Orbit Books, joins as Editor and Martin Cahill joins as Marketing and Publicity Manager.

Hannah Hecht, formerly Subsidiary Rights Coordinator at Penguin Young Readers, joins Abrams as Subsidiary Rights Manager.

Hannah Babcock, lately Assistant Manager, Subrights at Abrams, joins Scholastic Trade as Rights and Co-Edition Manager. Carolyn Seyster joins Klutz as Senior Product/Toy Designer, moving over from her previous role as Toy Designer at Nickelodeon.

At Bloomsbury, Jasmine Miranda, previously Marketing Coordinator at Scholastic, joins as Assistant Marketing Manager.

In Catapult’s writing program, Gabrielle Bellot joins as Head Instructor.

At Melville House, Athena Bryan joins as Editor. Previously she was Assistant Editor at Public Affairs.

Miya Kumangai joins Little, Brown as Assistant Editor.

Eva Zimmerman joins Chronicle Books as Children’s Publicist. She was previously working at her own freelance publicity company, Eva Zimmerman PR.

At Pegasus Books, Lauren Rosenthal joins as Publicist.

Gary Jansen has joined Loyola Press as Executive Editor, Acquisitions. Most recently he was Executive Editor and Director of Image Books.

The University of South Carolina Press has hired Aurora Bell as Acquisitions Editor. She was previously Associate Editor at Countryman Press.

Leah Pennywark is joining the University of Minnesota Press as Humanities Acquisitions Editor, moving over from her previous role as Assistant Editor at Stanford University Press.

At Ave Maria Press, Daniel Marrs, lately Publisher of the Thomas Nelson Bible Group, joins as VP and Editorial Director. Also joining is new VP and Director of Finance and Operations Kyle Marsacola.

At Cenveo, Kelly Lake joins as Global Head of Corporate Learning. She is the CEO and Founder of ExpertUP Consulting.

Eddie Gamarra, formerly Literary Manager at The Gotham Group, joins Nickelodeon as VP, Studio Development.

Dayna Anderson joins Equinox Books, a new imprint of CamCat Publishing focusing on genre fiction, as Associate Publisher. She had been serving as Publisher at Amberjack Publishing.

Mary Francis joins Penn Press at the University of Pennsylvania as Director. She had worked as Editorial Director of the University of Michigan Press since 2015.

Jane Graf, formerly US Group Sales Director at the Casemate Group, has left the company and can be reached at summa84@comcast.net.

At Amberjack Publishing, Madison Perdue has left her role as Acting Marketing Director.

Chris Puzzo joins FlatWorld as VP, Product & Engineering. He was previously Director of Engineering at Lovepop.

PROMOTIONS

Peter George becomes Chief Technology Officer at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Amy Dunkin becomes EVP, General Manager of Professional Services. Candace Finn is now Director of Subsidiary Rights.

At the Association of American Publishers, Lui Simpson has been promoted to SVP of Global Policy.

Elyse Marshall has been promoted to VP, Executive Director of Publicity at Penguin Young Readers, where Lindsay Boggs has also been promoted to Associate Director of Publicity, while Jocelyn Lange moves up to become Director of International Rights and Proprietary Publishing at Random House Children’s Books. Carrie Swetonic has been promoted to Senior Executive Director, Backlist Nonfiction at Penguin Publishing Group, where Lauren Monaco also moves up to SVP, Group Sales Director. At Penguin Random House Audio, Taraneh Djangi is now Associate Director, Strategic Marketing; Nicole Morano moves up to Senior Publicity Manager; Theresa Capan becomes Director of Art and Design; and Linda Schmidt becomes Director of Project Management and Art/Design. At Berkley, Jin Yu becomes Deputy Director, Marketing. At Penguin Press, Shina Patel is now Marketing Coordinator. Caroline Payne is now Marketing Coordinator at Dutton. At Knopf, Abby Endler is now Publicist.

At ReaderLink Distribution Services, John Norris has been promoted to VP, Product Management and Marketing.

At Scholastic, Lauren Donovan is now Senior Director of Publicity, Elisabeth Ferrari becomes Senior Publicist, Taylan Salvati becomes Publicist, and Jordana Kulak becomes Publicity Coordinator. Carmen Alvarez and Shara Zaval have both been promoted to Senior Marketing Manager.

Carolyn Bodkin is now Director, Foreign Rights at HarperCollins.

At Chronicle Books, Rebecca Hunt has been promoted to Editorial Director, Entertainment and Christina Amini has been promoted to Executive Publishing Director, Adult Trade.

Gayatri Patnaik will, on September 1, take on the title of Associate Director of Beacon Press in addition to her existing role as Editorial Director. Amy Caldwell has been promoted to Associate Editorial Director.

Cathrin Weinstein has been appointed Managing Director of Thieme USA.

At Shambhala Publications, K.J. Grow has been promoted to Publisher of Shambhala, the company’s main imprint.

In agency news…Agnes Ahlander Turner has been promoted to Executive Vice President at Maria B. Campbell Associates, while Beniamino Ambrosi and Johanna Gustavsson both become Vice President. Jessica Papin is now VP at Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. At Sanford J. Greenburger Associates, Edward Maxwell moves up to Agent. Jenny Stephens becomes Agent at Sterling Lord Literistic.

Julie Buntin is now Editor-at-Large at Catapult. She can be contacted at julie.buntin@catapult.co. Stella Cabot Wilson has been promoted to Writing Programs Coordinator. Additionally, Katie Boland moves up to become Book Events and Programming Manager at Catapult, Counterpoint, and Soft Skull Press.

At Sasquatch Books, Whitney Berger has been appointed Associate Manager of Marketing and Publicity for Little Bigfoot.

At Macmillan Podcasts, Becky Celestina and Tom Mis have become Producers, and Michelle Margulis is now Ad Operations Specialist. Emily Dyer moves up to Associate Marketing Manager at Macmillan Audio. Bryn Clark has been promoted to Editor at Flatiron, where Sarah Murphy has also been promoted to Executive Editor.

At SUNY Press, Rafael Chaiken has been promoted to Acquisitions Editor.

MJ Johnston has been promoted to Associate Editor at Sourcebooks and Sourcebooks Landmark. Stefani Sloma is now Assistant Marketing Manager at Sourcebooks Casablanca.

At Orbit, Hillary Sames is now Assistant Editor and Nivia Evans is now Editor.

Anna Bernard is now Publicist at Bloomsbury Children’s, while Katie Boni becomes Associate Publicist in the adult division.

At Workman Publishing, Amanda German has been promoted to Gift Sales Coordinator and Ally McNamara has been promoted to Sales Coordinator, Trade Sales.

DULY NOTED

Beginning in spring 2020, Simon & Schuster will distribute Aconyte, a new fiction imprint from games publisher and distributor Asmodee, in the US and Canada.

Effective October 1, Casemate Group will handle North American distribution for Dufour Editions, which publishes under its own imprint as well as distributing dozens of British, Irish, and Scottish publishers. Of these, fifteen have transferred to the new arrangement: Columba Press (including Currach), Dufour Editions, Eland Publishing, Gill Books (formerly known as Gill & MacMillan and including Collins Press), Goblinshead, Jantar Publishing, Liffey Press, O’Brien Press (including Brandon), Papillote Press, Salmon Publishing, Sandstone Press, Somerville Press, Vagabond Voices Publishing, Wordwell Books (including Eastwood) and Y Lolfa. With this arrangement, Casemate now becomes the largest distributor of Celtic books in North America.

Independent Publishers Group has expanded its list of client publishers. Beginning September 1, IPG will handle distribution for the Royal British Columbia Museum, and Midpoint Trade, acquired by IPG last year, will handle distribution for Oceanview Publishing, Tarquin Group, Guernica Editions, and Buffalo Heritage Press. Earlier this year IPG added Disruption Books, Interlude Press, the National Association of Home Builders, Pavilion Publishing and Media, and DesignerBooks.

Ingram Publishers Services now handles sales and distribution in the US and Canada for Terra Galleria Press.

Effective March 2020, Lonely Planet will move sales, customer service, and distribution in the US and Latin America to Hachette Book Group. Distribution had previously been handled directly from the publisher’s Oakland, CA warehouse.

800-CEO-READ has officially changed its name to Porchlight Book Company. Along with the new name, the company will also debut a new website, publish two monthly bestseller lists, and expand its editorial coverage.

Britannica Group is partnering with What on Earth Publishing to launch Britannica Books, a “fun-reference imprint” for children ages 3-14. The first list will debut in fall 2020, and the imprint will publish 5-10 titles a year.