Kevin Hanson, president and publisher of Simon & Schuster Canada, has left the company.
Hanson joined Simon & Schuster as president of S&S Canada in 2005, from HarperCollins, where he was a v-p of sales and marketing. (Hanson has also contributed editorials to PW.) In 2013, he was named the company’s first Canadian publisher, in which capacity he oversaw the launch of its first domestic list. Until that point, S&S Canada only marketed and sold books from the U.S. and U.K in Canada, and did not publish its own titles. In an email to staff sent on Thursday, S&S global CEO Jonathan Karp said that Hanson had helped S&S become "a vital presence in the Canadian marketplace."
Hanson's departure comes in the wake of S&S's acquisition by KKR last year, and is just the latest in a number of departures at the company. Earlier this month, Sarah St. Pierre, S&S's editorial director, left for Penguin Random House after less than a year in the role. In December, Nita Pronovost, v-p and editor-in-chief, left following the publication of her second novel, The Mystery Guest, under the pen name Nita Prose; her first book, The Maid, sold more than a million copies for its publisher, Penguin Random House. Felicia Quon, former v-p of marketing and communications, left last October and joined Vancouver-based Page Two publishing house as sales director.
S&S has also added people in several roles, including bringing in Jim Gifford and Rosemary Shipton as executive editors. Karp was asked for additional information and the name of a successor by Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper, but did not offer further comment.
