PEOPLE
Fritz Foy is retiring as President and Publisher of Tom Doherty Associates and is being succeeded by Devi Pillai effective immediately. Pillai was previously Publisher and VP for Tor Books. At Henry Holt Books for Young Readers, Ann Marie Wong joins as Editorial Director. Previously she was Senior Editorial Director at Scholastic Book Clubs.
Charles Gallagher will step down on June 4 as COO and CFO of Arcadia Publishing. Matthew Gildea, presently Business Development Manager, will succeed him as COO beginning June 7. The company has begun a search for the CFO position.
At Penguin Random House, Kimberly Ayers Shariff joins in the newly-created position of EVP, Director of Strategy for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, beginning May 10. Previously, she was Chief Administrative Officer at the American Ballet Theater. John Pitts will retire as VP, Executive Director of Marketing at Doubleday on May 1 and can be reached at jdpitts57@gmail.com. As part of a realignment of Penguin Random House’s international sales team, Tony Lutkus, Senior Director, International Marketing and Imprint Sales, will leave the company later this month. At Random House Children’s Books, Natali Cavanagh, formerly Marketing Coordinator at Abrams Books, joins as Marketing Coordinator; so does Caite Arocho, formerly Marketing and Design Lead at Outside the Lens. Mike Rich, lately Senior Graphic Designer and Art Director at Emursive Productions, joins the imprint as Senior Designer.
Traci Lester joins as Executive Director at the Center for Fiction. Most recently she was Executive Director of the National Dance Institute.
At the Association of American Publishers, Shelley Husband joins as SVP, Government Affairs and Special Projects. Most recently she was Staff Director and General Counsel for the House Committee on the Judiciary.
At Hachette Book Group, Maritza Lumpris joins as VP, Sales, International, effective May 3. Most recently she was Business Director of Kelsen Portfolio U.S. & Canada. Hannah Robinson, previously Editor at Tiller Press, joins GCP Balance as Editor.
Rosina Shiliwala, formerly VP, Head of Social Media Strategy, Marcus at Goldman Sachs, joins Audible as VP of Global Social Media.
Laurel Christensen Day, formerly VP, Product & Branding, will become President of Deseret Book. She is succeeding Jeff Simpson, who departs in June to serve an ecclesiastical assignment.
Cindy Myers has been hired by Small Press Distribution as Interim Executive Director. She was formerly Executive Director at the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
Kathryn Gordon joins Legacy Lit as Publicity Director. She founded The Book Hook and was formerly Director of Brand Development at HarperCollins. At Center Street, Alex Pappas, formerly Senior Politics Editor at Fox News, joins as Editorial Director.
At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s, Jennifer Keenan, formerly Art Director at Macmillan Children’s, joins as Art Director. Kate Napolitano joins Dey Street as Executive Editor. She was previously Senior Editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
At Meghan Stevenson Books, LLC, Kate Hutchison joins as Program Director of Platform Builders Bootcamp. Among other positions, she was previously Director of Business Development and Strategy, Publishers Solutions at LSC Communications. Additionally, Blair Thornburgh joins as Collaborator; she was formerly Senior Editor at Quirk Books.
In agency news…Sera Rivers is joining Martin Literary & Media Management on April 26 as Senior Literary Manager. She was previously Managing and Acquiring Editor for Avenue A Books. At Trident Media Group, Ana Ban, previously Contracts & Rights Manager at The Experiment, joins as Foreign Right Agent. At MacGregor & Luedeke, Alina Mitchell joins as Agent. At Westwood Creative Artists, Briar Jones joins as Office Manager.
At Book Buddy Media, Stephanie Reierson, formerly President of Amicus, joins as Operations Manager.
Jess Verdi joins Crazy Maple Studios as Acquisitions and Developmental Editor. Formerly she was Senior Editor at Crimson Romance.
At Bloomsbury Children’s, Megan Abbate joins as Nonfiction Editor. Previously she was Assistant Editor at Roaring Brook Press.
At West Margin Press, Alice Wertheimer joins as Marketing Manager. She was previously Publicity Assistant at Akashic Books.
Alexandra Derdall joins Sourcebooks as Digital Marketing Associate and Amy Jackson joins as Marketing Associate.
At PR by the Book, Emily Bond joins as Publicist.
Frances Gordon joins Apollo Publishers as Associate Publicist. She was formerly Publicity Assistant at Phaidon Press.
At Candlewick Press, Julia Gaviria joins as Copyeditor/Proofreader. Laura Albertine, Accounting and Accounts Receivable Specialist, retired on April 15.
PROMOTIONS
Rob Guttman is now SVP, Platform Development at Macmillan. Beter Said moves up to Senior Director, Product Development, while Grace Van Etten becomes Senior Director, Central Analytics; Rinat Ussenov becomes Principal Frontend Engineer; Michelle Pohl becomes Senior Business Analyst; Matt Kangas becomes Senior Director, Data Engineering; Dmitriy Firer becomes Senior Developer, ETL; Tova Rohatiner becomes Associate Manager, Communications; and Meg Collins moves up to Author Events Associate. Marian Brown is now Senior Director of Publicity at Henry Holt. At Macmillan Children’s, Kathryn Deaton has been promoted to Marketing Coordinator.
At Penguin Random House US, Richard Callison becomes VP and International Sales Director ofr Online and Digital; Anke Reichelt becomes VP and International Sales Director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; and Mike Zaug becomes VP and International Sales Director for the Americas in special markets, operations, and education. Sasha Sadikot has been named Director of Mass Merchandise and Distributor National Accounts for Target Adult Sales at Penguin Random House, where Jessica Ko moves up to Director of Mass Merchandise and Distributor National Accounts for Walmart Adult Sales. At Kokila, Sydnee Monday is now Associate Editor.
Shirley Ortiz has been promoted to Executive Director of Customer Service and Fulfillment across all Workman Publishing imprints. Grace Elliott is now Associate Editor, Children’s at Workman.
At Little, Brown Children’s, Lisa Yoskowitz becomes Executive Editorial Director; Hallie Tibbetts, Associate Editor; and Sasha Illingworth, Associate Creative Director.
Jessica Fuller is now Associate Publisher of Universe Publishing. At Simon & Schuster, Elizabeth Worthy has been promoted to Director of Event Management. Eugene Lee moves up to Associate Production Editor at Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, where Milena Giunco and Lauren Carr have both become Senior Publicists.
At Coffee House Press, Carla Valadez becomes Managing Director and Erika Stevens becomes Editorial Director.
At Books Forward, Ellen Whitfield has been promoted to Publicity Director.
Rich Paradis moves up to Contracts Director at Candlewick Press.
In agency news…Miranda Paul is now Agent at Erin Murphy Literary Agency. Aemilia Phillips becomes Literary Agent at Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency. At Curtis Brown, Jazmia Young and Nicole Eisenbraun have both been promoted to Associate Agent. And at Westwood Creative Artists, Bridgette Kam is now Literary Associate and Caroline Vassallo becomes International Rights Associate and Film/TV Associate.
Angela Guzman is now Senior Editor at Harper Christian.
At Sourcebooks, Cynthia Baule has been promoted to Senior Project Editor. Christa Désir becomes Editor. Kelsey Fenske and Eliza Smith both move up to Senior Production Editor, while Jessica Smith becomes Production Editor and Ashley Holstrom becomes Production Designer II. David Schmitt moves up to Digital Designer.
Kendall Storey is now Editor at Catapult and Soft Skull Press. Dan López moves up to Assistant Editor at Counterpoint Press. Amanda Fatemi-Badi has been promoted to Writing Programs Coordinator for Outreach and Special Programs at Catapult.
Danny Vasquez is now Editor at Astra House.
DULY NOTED
Effective May 1, 2022, Peachtree Publishing will move their sales and distribution to Penguin Random House Publisher Services. PRH already distributes three other Trustbridge-owned publishers: Candlewick Press, Holiday House, and Pixel+Ink. Peachtree currently handles their own sales and distribution.
Baker & Taylor Publisher Services has added three new clients, offering full sales representation and distribution to all: Fern Books, The Word for Word Bible Comic, and Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers.
Diamond Book Distributors will exclusively distribute FairSquare Comics in the North American book market.
Beginning July 2021, Pavilion Books Group imprint Batsford will be distributed by Quarto Publishing Group USA for wholesale and retail in the US and Canada. Distribution is presently handled by Sterling Publishing.
teNeues, the German-based books and stationary company, will be sold and distributed by ACC Art Books New York in North America, beginning in July.
Literary agency MacKenzie Wolf is reverting to its prior iterations as Wolf Literary Services and the Gillian MacKenzie Agency, though the companies will maintain a close affiliation. Wolf Literary will continue to be New York-based, while the Gillian MacKenzie Agency will be based in Massachusetts.
EVENTS
April 23
BISG Annual Meeting
online
May 26-28
U.S. Book Show
online
June 29-July 1
London Book Fair
online
