Josalyn Moran, who left her job as children's publishing director at Chronicle Books to become v-p of publishing at Albert Whitman in 2010, is stepping down from that position, and will transition into an advisory role, effective January 1, 2012. Whitman head John Quattrocchi told PW that "having accomplished a lot in the last two years," including the “very clear plans [that] she came in with,” Moran will become an advisor and will be based in St. Louis. Moran had been dividing her time between Whitman’s Chicagoland offices and her St. Louis home office.
Quattrochi said that Moran will continue to work with Whitman staff on rebranding and marketing the company’s 70th-anniversary editions of its classic Boxcar Children series, as well as developing and marketing Newbery Medalist Patricia MacLachlan’s Boxcar Children prequel, which is scheduled for release in fall 2012.
“We’re in a really nice place,” Quattrochi told PW, adding that company executives are “still firming up [Moran’s] role” with the company. Whitman executives are also strategizing on how to “enhance” the editorial staff when replacing Moran. They expect to hire either a publishing director or an executive editor, who will work fulltime out of their Park Ridge, Illinois offices. “We’re not in any rush,” Quattrochi said. “It worked according to plan.”
Moran spent a year at Chronicle before leaving for Whitman, where she oversaw the editorial team. Before arriving at Chronicle, she was the longtime v-p of children's books at Barnes & Noble, and moved from San Francisco to Illinois for the job with Whitman.
Moran plans on working with other publishing companies as well on a per-project basis.
