Nancy Grant, a Houghton Mifflin veteran who most recently served as marketing director for a number of reference categories, has been named v-p and managing director of Kingfisher. The children's book imprint joined the HM children's book group in late 2001 after having been part of Vivendi.

Kingfisher is based in London, but approximately half of its sales are in the U.S. with the balance coming from the U.K. and co-edition publishing. Grant, who will report to Andrea Pinkney, v-p and publisher of HM's children's division, will direct all of Kingfisher's worldwide business and editorial operations, making frequent trips to London. Kingfisher, with 70 employees, will publish about 110 titles this year and is best known for its reference books, activity books and learning books. Among its bestselling series are I Wonder Why, Kingfisher Treasury of Stories and Red Hot Reads.