Random House has announced that Keith Titan will join the company March 29 as v-p and director of new media for Random House Inc. Titan has been senior director of e-publishing and e-commerce at Simon & Schuster, where he played a key role in building the company's e-book program. Among the initiatives spearheaded by Titan were the launch of Stephen King's Riding the Bullet and the startup of S&S's e-bookstore.

At Random House, Titan will be responsible for the new media department, where he will help coordinate the publisher's e-book publishing efforts. Titan will also serve as director of Random House Ventures LLC, where he will work with Richard Sarnoff, president of the Random corporate development group, to identify new investment opportunities and to manage strategic issues with companies where Random has already made an investment. He will report to Sarnoff.

Kate Tentler, v-p of S&S's online division, has already started a search to find a replacement for Titan.