In the wake of the departure of Jennifer Romanello last week, Grand Central Publishing has named Matthew Ballast acting director of publicity for the Hachette division. Ballast has been at GCP for six years, and his most recent title was executive director of publicity. He's worked on campaigns for, among others, Roger Ebert, Rocco DiSpirito, Rachel Zoe, and Gwyneth Paltrow. Before joining GCP he worked for various houses, including Rizzoli and HarperCollins.