Madeline McIntosh, who was named president of the Penguin Publishing Group last September, put her own stamp on the division last week, shifting the responsibilities of a number of high-ranking editors and publishers, eliminating the positions of two other top executives, and closing the Hudson Street Press and Gotham Books imprints.
The most significant shift came at Viking, where longtime president Clare Ferraro was replaced by a new team led by Brian Tart, who had been president and publisher of Dutton, Gotham, and Avery. Tart was named Viking president and publisher, and McIntosh brought in Andrea Schulz as Viking v-p and editor-in-chief. Schulz was previously editor-in-chief at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kate Stark, head of marketing at Riverhead and Putnam, joined Viking as associate publisher and director of marketing and will retain her Riverhead duties, while relinquishing her Putnam responsibilities.
Ferraro had been president of Viking since 1999 and also oversaw Hudson Street Press and Plume. She joined Penguin (then Penguin Putnam) in December 1997 and before that was at Ballantine for nearly 19 years, where she worked with Susan Petersen Kennedy. Kennedy, one-time Penguin president, left Penguin at the end of last year, following the appointment of McIntosh.
To replace Tart at Dutton, Ivan Held, president of G.P. Putnam’s Sons, was named president of the Putnam and Dutton imprint. In combining Putnam and Dutton under one leader, McIntosh explained that “each imprint will maintain its distinct identity, lists, and culture, each with separate editorial departments, perspectives, and aptitudes,” adding that Held “is the ideal colleague to identify and develop the benefits from increased marketplace collaboration.” Newly reporting to Held is Ben Sevier, Dutton’s v-p, editor-in-chief, who is now also publisher for the imprint. Christine Ball, v-p, associate publisher, Dutton, will now serve the same role for both Putnam and Dutton, overseeing both imprints’ marketing and publicity teams.
Some of Tart’s Avery duties were assumed by Megan Newman, who was promoted to v-p, publisher of Avery and who will now report to McIntosh. Joining Newman at Avery is Caroline Sutton, who moved from Hudson Street to become Avery’s editor-in-chief. Avery emerged as one of the big winners in the reorganization, as McIntosh said she hopes to expand its health and wellness program. Most unpublished and backlist Hudson Street and Gotham titles will be released by Avery, although a few books may be published by other PPG imprints.
Gotham and Hudson Street were relatively new Penguin imprints. Gotham was launched in 2001 by Bill Shinker and published its first list in January 2003. It was doing about 25 hardcovers and 30 trade paperbacks annually, in such areas as history, biography, and pop culture. In January 2014, Petersen replaced Shinker with Tart. Hudson Street was started by former agent Laureen Rowland in 2004 and had been publishing about 30 titles annually. In her letter to PPG employees, McIntosh said she decided to close Gotham and Hudson Street because they had too many titles that overlapped with other Penguin imprints. The closing of Gotham resulted in the departure of Lauren Marino, v-p and editorial director, as well as a new job for Charlie Conrad, executive editor at Gotham. Conrad is moving to Berkley and will report to Susan Allison, v-p, editorial director.
With Plume no longer being overseen by Ferraro, McIntosh shifted oversight to David Rosenthal, president and publisher of Blue Rider Press. Rachel Bressler, editorial director of Plume, now reports to Rosenthal.
Other changes included the promotion of Catharine Lynch, senior v-p, director, publishing management, to associate publisher at Penguin Publishing Group; Lynch will oversee a number of PPG support functions, including advertising and promotion. McIntosh also created the new position of v-p, director, business development and strategy and appointed Allison Dobson, currently a Random House executive, to the spot.
The reorganization does not affect the responsibilities of six other publishing heads who continue to report to McIntosh: Leslie Gelbman, president, Berkley/New American Library Publishing Group; John Duff, v-p, publisher, Perigee; Joel Fotinos, v-p, publisher, Tarcher; Ann Godoff, president and editor-in-chief, Penguin Press; Geoff Kloske, v-p, publisher, Riverhead Books; and Adrian Zackheim, president and publisher, Portfolio, Sentinel, and Current.
