People Round-Up, Mid-July 2021

PEOPLE

Janet Rasche rejoins Penguin Random House as SVP and Director of Publishing Support. She had been VP, Operations Planning at Macmillan. Chelsea Vaughn is leaving her position as VP and Director of Publishing Operations, Business Process, and Support on September 30. Hal Hlavinka rejoins as Manager, Account Marketing after working as Event Director for Park Slope’s Community Bookstore. At Penguin Random House Audio, Lauren Díaz Morgan, formerly Associate Manager, Subsidiary Rights at Random House Children’s Books, joins as Publishing Manager. Elizabeth Lee joins Penguin Workshop as Editor; she was previously Assistant Editor at Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.

Chris Symanoskie joins Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as VP, Investor Relations. Previously he was VP, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications at American Public Education.

At Callisto Media, Laurea Salvatore has stepped down as SVP, Publishing.

At Zondervan Bibles, Laura Bartlett joins as Associate Publisher. She was previously Director, Academic and Ministry Books at Kregel Publications. At HarperCollins, Genessee Floressantos joins as Associate Publicist for International Sales; she had been working as Publicist for powerhouse Books.

Daniel Marrs, formerly VP and Editorial Director at Ave Maria Press, has been named Associate Publisher of Nelson Books, a nonfiction imprint within the publishing group.

At Hay House, Jackie Kim joins as Marketing Director. Previously she was Marketing Director at HarperCollins.

At Educational Development Corporation, CEO and President Randall White has retired and turned over leadership of the company to his son, Craig White.

Elisa Gibson, formerly Design Editor for the bookazine program at National Geographic, has been named Director of Creative at National Geographic Books.

At Blackstone Publishing, Brendan Deneen has been named Director of Media, TV, and Film. He was previously President of Literary and IP Development at Assemble Media.

At Written Word Media, Emma Boyer joins as Director of Digital Operations. She was previously Content Operations Manager at VitalTek.

Jessica Preeg, lately Publicity Lead at Amazon Publishing, joins Simon Element as Deputy Director of Publicity. At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Kyle Daileda joins as Children’s Library Marketing Coordinator.

In agency news…Molly Cusick joins International Literary Properties as VP, Literary. She was previously Editor at Sourcebooks. At Janklow & Nesbit, Nathaniel Alcaraz-Stapleton and Mairi Friesen-Escandell both join as Director, Foreign Rights. Alcaraz-Stapleton was most recently Head of Rights at Headline, while Friesen-Escandell was Rights Agent at A M Heath. Ginger Clark, lately Literary Agent at Curtis Brown Ltd., has launched Ginger Clark Literary and will maintain her previous client list. Nicole Eisenbraun, formerly Agent/Translation Rights Manager at Curtis Brown, joins Ginger Clark Literary as Manager of Translation Rights and likewise maintains her previous client list. At Brockman, Eric Henney joins as Literary Agent; he had been Editor at Basic Books.

Author and poet Hanif Abdurraqib has joined Tin House as Editor-at-Large.

In September, Parul Sehgal joins The New Yorker as Staff Writer. She has been working as Book Critic at The New York Times.

Melissa Elders joins BookBub as Account Manager, assuming responsibility for the company’s international publisher business. Previously she was International Account Manager at Faber & Faber.

At Macmillan, Kiffin Steurer and Carla Benton both join as Senior Production Editor. Steurer was previously Senior Production Editor at Yen Press, while Benton had been working as Production Editor at St. Martin’s Press on contract. Layla Yuro, formerly Administrative Assistant at Trident Media Group, joins as Associate Production Editor, as does Sam Dauer. At Macmillan Children’s, Mariam Quiraishi joins as Senior Production Designer; previously, she was Designer at Chronicle. Mia Moran, formerly Production Editor at Callisto Media, joins as Production Editor.

Michelle Bayuk joins Bergahn Books as Sales and Marketing Manager. She was formerly Associate Director, Children’s Book Marketing, Publicity and Social Media for The Quarto Group.

ErinNicole Conti joins PR by the Book as Assistant Publicist.

At Workman Publishing, Mike Moglia joins as Coordinator, Digital Operations.

At Sourcebooks Fire, Madison Nankervis joins as Marketing and Social Media Associate.

Cici Harrison joins Book Riot as Project Manager.

At Peachtree Publishing, Elonda Almond joins as Staff Accountant.

 

 

PROMOTIONS

At Penguin Random House, Bryan Bixler has been promoted to VP, Business Operations, while Matt Godzieba has been promoted to VP, Director of Publishing Operations Systems. Emilia Pisani has been named VP and Director of Online Marketplace. Pooja Karnane becomes Senior Manager of Metadata Analytics, and Savannah Sanocki becomes Metadata Coordinator. Tara Gilbride has been promoted to VP, Associate Publisher at Portfolio/Sentinel/Optimism. Margot Stamos moves up to Director of Publicity and Marketing; Amanda Lang becomes Associate Director of Publicity; and Mary Kate Skehan becomes Assistant Director of Marketing. Erroll McDonald moves up to work exclusively as VP, Executive Editor at Knopf. Jordan Pavlin has become Editor-in-Chief. At Penguin Workshop, Anuoluwapo Ohioma is now Associate Editor and Alex Wolfe becomes Assistant Editor.

Matthew Ballast becomes VP and Executive Director of Publicity and Marketing at Grand Central Publishing.

At Liveright, Peter Miller is now VP, Senior Publicity Director and Cordelia Calvert is now Publicity Director.

HarperCollins Christian Publishing has restructured its sales and marketing operations under unified leadership, with Doug Lockhart now serving as SVP, Sales and Centralized Marketing. At Zonderkidz, Katherine Easter has been promoted to Acquisitions Editor.

Hai-Yen Mura has been named Publisher and Head of Marketing at Amazon Publishing US. Julia Sommerfeld becomes Publisher. Erica Moriarty moves up to Marketing Manager. Additionally, Chris Werner becomes Executive Editor at Lake Union Publishing and Marilyn Brigham becomes Senior Editor at Two Lions and Amazon Crossing Kids.

At BookBub, Wade Lucas becomes Partner Relations Lead, while Annie Stone moves up to Head of Business Development and Katie Donelan becomes General Manager.

Kay Birkner is now Assistant Publisher and Associate Director of Publishing Strategy at Sourcebooks Jabberwocky and Sourcebooks Young Readers.

At Macmillan: Chris O’Connell has been promoted to Director of Production Editorial. Donna Noetzel becomes Associate Director; Megan Kiddoo becomes Associate Director, Production Editorial; and Heather Saunders becomes Associate Director of Design. Melanie Sanders, Jessica Katz, and Hannah Campbell each move up to Senior Production Editor. David Lott and Eric Meyer become Senior Managing Editors. Lauren Hougen is now Managing Editor. Chrisinda Lynch is now Associate Managing Editor. At Tom Doherty Associates, Rachel Bass and Kristin Tempe have been promoted to Associate Editor, and Sanaa Ali-Virani becomes Assistant Editor.

Sharifah Williams is now Executive Director of Content at Book Riot. Vanessa Diaz has been promoted to Managing Editor.

At Harvard Business Review Press, Felicia Sinusas becomes Associate Director of Publicity.

SarahMay Harel has been promoted to Assistant Director, Website Operations at Workman Publishing.

At One Signal/Atria Books, Nicholas Ciani is now Senior Editor. At Simon & Schuster, William Plunkett moves up to the newly-created position of Assistant Manager, Sales.

Vikki Warner has become Senior Acquisitions Editor at Blackstone Publishing.

At Listening Library, Emily Parliman becomes Senior Editor.

At Catapult, Kendall Storey is now Senior Editor and Alicia Kroell is now Associate Editor.

Mora Couch has been promoted to Editor at Holiday House, and Della Farrell moves up to Associate Editor.

 

DULY NOTED

Wharton School Press is now distributed by the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Simon & Schuster now handles worldwide sales and distribution to the bookstore market for Devil’s Due Comics.

 

EVENTS

August 25-29
Bouchercon
New Orleans, LA

October 3-5
PNBA Fall Trade Show
Portland, OR

October 7-9
MPIBA FallCon 2021
Denver, CO