Perseus Regroups

After Hachette Book Group’s deal to buy the Perseus Books Group and then sell its distribution unit to Ingram fell apart in early August, there was speculation that another buyer would soon emerge to make a bid for the company. But the likelihood of a quick deal faded last week when Perseus CEO David Steinberger announced a reorganization that he said will provide the “best path forward toward generating year-over-year growth.” Steinberger said the old structure, in which 12 department heads reported directly to him, sometimes made it difficult for the company to execute plans quickly and effectively.

Under the new organization, Susan Weinberg has been promoted to senior v-p and group publisher, and Mark Suchomel has been named president of client services. In announcing the promotions, Steinberger told Perseus employees that the two executives will be “focused solely on [the] growth and success” of their respective divisions. Weinberg, who was most recently group publisher for PublicAffairs, Nation Books, and Basic Books, will now be responsible for all Perseus imprints and joint publishing ventures. Suchomel joined Perseus in May 2013 to form the Legato Publishing Group after leaving IPG. He will now run all of Perseus’s distribution units, which include Consortium, Perseus Distribution, and PGW, as well as Legato. The promotion is a notable change of fortune for Suchomel, who was slated to lose his job if the deal with Ingram had been completed. His second in command, Jeff Tegge, will take over running Legato.

The restructuring also led to a new addition to the executive team: Raymond Floyd was named senior v-p for operations, reporting to COO Charles Gallagher. Perseus didn’t fully replace former COO Joe Mangan when he left the company to join HBG. Floyd will oversee Perseus’s IT and sales departments, as well as its production and manufacturing operations in Boulder, Colo., and its distribution center in Jackson, Tenn.

Other changes within Perseus include the naming of Matty Goldberg to the newly created post of president of publishing, client and sales development, a position that Steinberger described as “an enterprise-wide advisory and special projects role.” Goldberg’s previous role as head of sales was taken over by Sabrina McCarthy, who most recently was president of Perseus Distribution (that position, in turn, is going to Heidi Sachner).

The reorganization also resulted in the departure of three executives, including Chris Navratil, who was publisher of the Running Press unit since April 2009. Steinberger said Perseus will conduct an industrywide search to replace Navratil, and that, until a successor is found, v-p and marketing director Allison Devlin will be acting publisher. The two other departing executives are Patrick Kirk, a project manager, and Scott Edinburgh, who was head of corporate strategy and business development.