A series of major changes have been made in the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, group chairman, Sonny Mehta, announced yesterday in letters to staff.
Suzanne Herz, executive v-p and executive director of publishing at Doubleday, has taken on the additional role of publisher of Vintage/Anchor Books, effective immediately and will report to Mehta. She will replace Anne Messitte, executive v-p at Knopf Doubleday and publisher of Vintage/Anchor, who will leave the company in December. Herz will, Mehta wrote, be charged with "fostering alignment between our group hardcover and paperback publishing programs," including "coordinating with hardcover editors on paperback publications."
Herz has previously worked at Pantheon, Putnam, and the Free Press. She has published such authors as Margaret Atwood, Dan Brown, John Grisham, Chris Bohjalian, Bill Bryson, Tom Clancy, David Grann, Carl Hiaasen, Jon Krakauer, Kevin Kwan, Ian McEwan, Erin Morgenstern, Robert Parker, Jeffrey Toobin, and Colson Whitehead.
Messitte has led the Vintage and Anchor Books imprints for the past two decades, acquiring and editing books for Knopf and Doubleday including those by Paulo Coelho, Jennifer McMahon, and E.L. James. She also started Vintage Español in 1994.
As a further result of the change, Cristobal Pera, director of Spanish language publishing at Vintage Español, will report to Mehta.
Additionally, Todd Doughty has been promoted to senior v-p and deputy publisher at Doubleday, from v-p and executive director of publicity, at Doubleday, effective immediately and reporting to Mehta. Newly reporting to Doughty will be John Pitts, v-p and executive director of marketing; Judy Jacoby, v-p and director of creative marketing; Lauren Weber, associate director of marketing; and Hannah Engler, marketing assistant, who will also continue to report to associate director of publicity Michael Goldsmith.
This article has been updated for clarity.
