The restructuring, announced October 10 by David Shelley, CEO of Hachette UK, sees the managing directors of Hachette’s Adult Trade Publishing Divisions—Jon Butler of Quercus, Nick Davies of John Murray Press, Mari Evans of Headline, Katie Espiner of Orion, Charlie King of Little, Brown, and Carolyn Mays of Hodder & Stoughton—joining the Hachette UK board.

According to a statement from Hachette: 'With the announcement today of the appointment to the Hachette UK main board of the managing directors of the trade divisions, the role of deputy CEO of Hodder & Stoughton, Headline, Quercus and John Murray Press, held by Lucy Hale, ceases to exist. After much consideration, Lucy has decided to leave Hachette.'

Jamie Hodder-Williams remains CEO of Hodder & Stoughton and trade publishing director with particular responsibility for international collaboration. According to Hachette: 'He will focus on a new growth plan for Hodder & Stoughton which includes creating a new business, alongside Hodder, to cater for the huge appetite for stories in the widest variety of formats – from pure digital eBooks to audiobooks, podcasts and new forms of storytelling. He will recruit a new team with digital and audio experience from inside and outside the book industry for this, as yet unnamed, business.'

Carolyn Mays, managing director of Hodder & Stoughton, will continue to report to Hodder-Williams. Butler, Davies and Evans, who previously reported to Hodder-Williams, will join Charlie King and Katie Espiner in reporting directly to Shelley.

In further changes, rights director Rebecca Folland will take on the additional role of chairing a forum of the rights directors across Hachette UK, to coordinate and share best practice. The rights directors will continue to report to their respective publishing divisions.

There is a further structural change: 'In order to share, support and facilitate excellent operational practice, Hachette UK is creating a single Trade Publishing Operations unit to ensure that the best information and data are accessible across the business, informing trade publishing decisions and managing the constant availability of Hachette trade titles around the world. Ben Groves-Raines, currently COO of Orion and Little, Brown, will become publishing operations director to lead this team, reporting to Richard Kitson. He will also chair the Hachette UK production directors forum, to share best practice in production across the business.'

Both Hodder-Williams and Shelley expressed thanks for Hale's years at Hachette. Shelley said: "I want to pay tribute to the amazing work Lucy has done over the last 16 years at Hachette, and the contribution she has made to many publishing successes. Her dynamism and deep enthusiasm for books and authors will be missed by me and by everyone here. We all wish her really well for the future."

Hodder-Williams said: "Lucy has been the most inspiring and passionate colleague and she has been responsible for driving some of our biggest acquisitions. She has a unique ability to steer a great book through to maximum success, whether it’s a big novel from a major international bestselling author, a big Christmas non-fiction hit or a small work of genius that deserves a bigger audience. She is a voracious reader who cares passionately about finding the widest possible readership for our authors. I will miss her enormously, and I know she will take her own unique passionate vision and energy to her next venture."

Hale said: "I have loved my time at Hodder and more recently working with Headline, John Murray Press and Quercus and I will miss our many brilliant authors and passionate and talented colleagues. I know the authors will continue to thrive under the excellent leadership of these divisions as each of them grows bigger and stronger with more autonomy.

A longer version of this story appeared in BookBrunch.