PEOPLE
At Simon & Schuster, Tim O’Connell joins as VP, Editorial Director, Fiction, beginning November 8. He was previously Senior Editor at the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kevin Oller, lately Assistant Manager at HarperCollins, joins as National Account Manager, Baker & Taylor. Olivia Wilson joins as Manager, National Accounts; she had been International Sales Manager at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Sasha Kobylinski joins Marysue Rucci Books as Publishing and Marketing Coordinator.
Mara Anastas has joined Open Road Integrated Media in the newly-created position of VP, Business Development and Public Relations. Previously she was Publisher, Aladdin Books and Simon Pulse. Lisa Echenthal, formerly Buyer at Barnes & Noble, joins as Business Development Manager. Lisa Quigley joins as Senior Editor, The Lineup and Murder & Mayhem. Nicole Matura joins Early Bird Books as Marketing Operations Coordinator. Ed Bambara joins as Marketing Analytics Manager; he had worked previously as Consumer Insights Manager at Canon USA.
Carolan Workman has retired as Executive Chair and President of Workman upon the completion of the company’s sale to Hachette Book Group. Jacklyn Wertman joins as Senior Digital Marketing Manager. Previously she was Digital Marketing Manager at Bridal Guide Magazine. Shae McDaniel joins Algonquin Children’s as Marketing Manager; most recently she was Digital Marketing Assistant Manager for Harper Children’s. Catherine Weening, lately Production Editor at Scholastic, joins the company as Production Editor.
Longtime Farrar, Straus & Giroux Chief Operating Officer Andrew Mandel will leave his position on December 1 after seventeen years with the company. Brian Heller has stepped down from his position as VP, Academic, Library, Wholesale & International at Macmillan, where he worked for twenty-four years. Katie Kraska joins the company as Director of Finance Projects; she was previously Director of Strategy and Analysis at Penguin Random House. Jennifer Didik returns to Macmillan as Assistant Director, Business Planning after working as Contracts and Permissions Manager at Library of America. Gayatri Dubey joins as Program Manager, Talent & Development. Jared Adler, Dawn Barley, and John Rieg have each joined as Royalty Manager. Ghada Daoud joins as Supply Chain Associate. Dylan Hamilton joins as Inside Sales Representative. Elizabeth Hubbard joins as Associate Managing Editor.
At Zando, Dennis Lee, lately VP, Finance, Strategy & Operations at HarperCollins, joins as Head of Finance and Operations. Sierra Stovall joins as Director of Rights. Previously she was Associate Director, Rights and International Sales at Sourcebooks.
Jamie Ghaffar, lately VP, HR Manager at W.W. Norton, joins as VP, Group HR Strategy for Walker Books/Candlewick Press.
At Wiley, John Kritzmacher will retire as EVP and CFO at the end of the year. He will be succeeded by Christina Van Tassell, lately CFO at Dow Jones.
At Sourcebooks, Lynn Sikora joins as Editorial Operations Director. Most recently she was VP, Marketing at Phoenix International Publications. Jiayun Yang joins as International Sales & Rights Coordinator.
James Jayo joins The Countryman Press as Senior Editor. Formerly he was Senior Editor at Penguin Books.
Nicole Passage, formerly VP and Executive Managing Editor at Open Road, joins Podium as Editorial Director.
Leslie Davisson, previously National Accounts Manager, Specialty Retail at Simon & Schuster, joins Chronicle Books as Director, Special Sales.
At The New Press, James Phelan joins as Director of Development. He was previously Managing Director at The Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD). Eranga Fernando, previously Major Gifts Officer at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, joins as Major Gifts Officer. Danika Tablante, formerly Foundation and Government Giving Associate at Roundabout Theatre Company, joins as Development Associate & Project Manager. Additionally, Jessamine Cheng, lately Operations & Analytics Manager, International Sales at Penguin Random House, joins as Manager, Inventory & Sales Operations, while Ishan Desai-Geller joins as Assistant Editor. He was most recently Assistant Editor at Oxford University Press.
Jennifer Choi joins Bloomsbury as Associate Rights Director; she was formerly Subsidiary Rights Manager at Harlequin.
In agency news…Monica Rodriguez joins Context Literary Agency as Director of Brand Management. Christina Zobel joins JABberwocky Literary Agency as Subsidiary Rights Associate. Aram Fox, of the eponymous agency, has announced that he will step down at the end of 2021; the agency will be relaunched in 2022 as Jenny La Plante.
Jodi Witherell joins Penguin Publishing Group as Marketing Coordinator. Alex Castellanos joins Berkley as Designer. Additionally, Cindy De la Cruz, formerly Associate Designer at Macmillan, joins G.P. Putnam’s Sons and Nancy Paulsen Books as Designer. At Random House Children’s, Jennifer Chung-Castillo joins as Managing Editor, Operations. She was formerly Manager, Metadata at DK.
LaToya Maitland joins Harper Children’s as Senior Manager. Previously she was Marketing Manager at Disney Publishing Worldwide. Mikayla Lawrence, formerly Assistant Production Editor at Page Street Publishing, joins as Production Editor.
At Applause and Backbeat Books, Chris Chappell, previously Senior Editor at Bergahn Books, joins as Senior Editor.
Daniela Rapp joins Mayo Clinic Press as Senior Editor, Acquisitions. She was previously Senior Editor at St. Martin’s Press.
At Disney Hyperion, Regan Winter and Kelsey Sullivan both join as Associate Editor. Winter was previously Associate Editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, while Sullivan was Assistant Editor at Disney Press.
Paige Hazzan joins as Publicity Lead at Amazon Crossing, Amazon Crossing Kids, and Two Lions.
At Scholastic, Jordin Streeter, lately Marketing Coordinator at Macmillan, joins as Associate Marketing Manager, Middle Grade. Renee Levy, lately Digital Media Planner at BrideClick, joins as Advertising Associate. Additionally, Olivia Blomstrom joins as Trade Planner, Frontlist Planning.
Gwen Cullen joins little bee books as Associate Production Manager. Previously she was Assistant Production Manager at W.W. Norton.
At Andrew McMeel Publishing, Brianna Westervelt joins as Production Editor.
At Peachtree Publishing Company, Jamie Evans joins as Production Editor.
Claudia Acevedo-Quiñones joins Graywolf Press as Publicist. She was previously Publicity Associate at Vesto PR & Books.
Writer and professor Adam Dalva has joined Words Without Borders as its new Books Editor.
Writer Andrea Long Chu joins New York Magazine on November 15 as Book Critic.
Roger Sutton, Editor-in-Chief of The Horn Book, will retire at the end of the year. A replacement is being sought.