In a series of press releases at the beginning of the week, Simon & Schuster announced that Ian Chapman will step down as CEO of Simon & Schuster UK and International in May, to be succeed by Perminder Mann, who is currently CEO of Bonnier Books UK.

Chapman has been with S&S for 25 years, and has served as chief executive and publisher of its UK and International divisions since July 2013. In that role, Chapman oversees the company's publishing, editorial, marketing, and sales operations across multiple territories, including Australia and India. Under his leadership, Simon & Schuster UK was named Publisher of the Year at the British Book Awards in both 2022 and 2023, along with Children's Publisher of the Year in 2023.

In an interview with PW in 2023, Chapman touted the company's several banner years in a row, noting that they defied expectations. "S&S U.K., some may remember, was originally set up as a bolt-on to the American company simply to distribute their books in the U.K. When we started the local publishing list initially, it was a struggle to be taken seriously," he said. "In 2019, we made a plan in the U.K. to double our local publishing profits in five years—and we quadrupled them in two. We have created serious momentum, and intend to continue to build upon it." Chapman added that he expected that momentum to continue under S&S’s new owners, KKR.

Mann has been with Bonnier for 15 years, and is currently president of the Publishers Association in the U.K. Previously, she worked at Macmillan and Transworld, in addition to establishing U.K. satellite offices for international children’s publishers Hinkler and Phidal. In addition to running S&S UK, Mann, like Chapman, will also oversee S&S Australia and S&S India, with Dan Ruffino and Sanjiv Gupta, respective heads of those divisions, will report to her.

“Perminder is known for being a strategic thinker, an innovator, and a team builder,” S&S CEO Jonathan Karp, said. “Her vision for Simon & Schuster’s future is exciting and expansive, one with an emphasis on building upon our impressive foundation to make our publishing programs even stronger.”

For his part, Chapman said, "I have had the most wonderful time doing a job I love, building a hugely talented and delightful team throughout the U.K., Australia, India and other international territories outside of the U.S, working in the world of books."