Rich Thomas has been promoted to senior v-p and executive director of publishing at HarperCollins Children’s Books, and will "lead the editorial strategy for the division with oversight of the Children’s Book Group imprints," division president and publisher Liate Stehlik announced in a letter to staff on November 8. The promotion is part of a multi-pronged reorganizing effort that marks the first major move by Stehlik since she was named president and publisher of the division in September, succeeding Suzanne Murphy, in addition to her role overseeing the Morrow Group. Thomas has been with HarperCollins since 2017.
Nancy Inteli and Erica Sussman, each of whom have been promoted to v-p and publisher at the Harper Group, will continue to report to Thomas. Inteli will "take on the management of Clarion, Versify, and Allida, in addition to continuing in her successful role leading the early reader and programs teams for the Harper imprint," and Sussman "will continue to lead the Harper imprint’s middle grade and teen teams and her role will expand to include licensed publishing, influencer, and celebrity programs," Stehlik wrote.
Alyson Day, Luana Horry, and Bethany Vinhateiro have been promoted to editorial directors, reporting to Inteli. Dave Linker has also been promoted to editorial director, reporting to Sussman. Tara Weikum, v-p and editorial director, will also report to Sussman.
Rosemary Brosnan and Virginia Duncan, both v-ps and publishers at Harper Children's, will now report to Thomas. Alessandra Balzer and Donna Bray, v-ps and copublishers of the Balzer + Bray imprint, will continue to report to Stehlik.
In addition, the integrated marketing, marketing design, and rights teams at William Morrow and HarperCollins Children’s will be combined. "Increasingly, the combination of content and marketing strategies are essential to finding audiences for our titles online and on social media," Stehlik and president of sales Ed Spade wrote in a second, joint memo on November 9. "By bringing together the content strategy, asset design, video, and social, we will enable the best strategy to support our publishing efforts."
Kelly Rudolph has been named v-p of publicity and integrated marketing strategy at the Morrow Group and HarperCollins Children’s, with Colleen O'Connell, executive director of digital product marketing and innovation, and Marisa Domenech, director of design, continuing to lead digital marketing and design marketing, respectively, reporting to Rudolph. Nellie Kurtzman, v-p of marketing and publicity, will continue to lead the marketing and publicity teams for the children’s division, reporting to Stehlik.
Juliette Shapland, senior v-p of rights and permissions, will oversee the entire rights and permissions group for both the Morrow Group and HarperCollins Children's. Rachel Horowitz, senior director of subsidiary rights for HarperCollins Children’s Books, and Reka Rubin, director of subsidiary rights for Harlequin, will report to Shapland. Shapland will continue to report to Spade. "This new structure will allow us to focus on serving our authors and agents in the best way possible," Stehlik and Spade wrote, noting that the move puts the group "a better position to align our company-wide and title-by-title plans for licensing and publishing."
In addition, Jean McGinley, v-p and associate publisher for HarperCollins Children’s, will now oversee the children’s art department. V-p and creative director Amy Ryan will report to McGinley. Ann Dye has been named executive director of sales operations and trade shows, reporting to Spade and overseeing the sales operations team for general books, children’s, Harlequin, and international sales and "the modernization of our catalog, galley, trade show, custom edition strategy, and other sales support processes," Stehlik and Spade wrote. The school, library, and academic marketing teams will also now report to Dye. Patty Rosati, senior director of school and library marketing, will lead the combined library and school marketing teams, and Virginia Stanley, director of academic and library marketing, will report to Rosati. Diane Burrowes, senior director of academic and library marketing, will also report to Dye.
This story has been updated with further information.
