HarperCollins has integrated its own sales force with that of Morrow/Avon to form a new unified sales organization that will feature four sales groups plus a sales support operation.
Under the restructuring, Thérèse Burke will be president of general book sales and will oversee all HC sales efforts. The reorganization will result in the elimination of 35 positions, approximately 20% of the 176 employees who were a part of the separate HC and Morrow/Avon sales operations. Although there will be some changes to territories, HC president and CEO Jane Friedman said the new organization "will provide better service to our customers than before."
The new sales department will consist of trade sales, children's sales, mass market sales and Harper Enterprises plus sales operations.
Josh Marwell will head the trade sales unit, which will sell all adult and trade paperback titles as well as handle the field sales for children's books. Reporting to Marwell will be Nina Olmsted, v-p, national accounts; Jeanette Zwart, v-p, field sales; Anita Bhavani, director of online sales; and Kathy Smith, director of retail marketing and sales administration.
The children's sales group will be headed by Andrea Pappenheimer, who will be senior v-p, children's sales. She will be responsible for all HC children's books sales including national accounts and educational sales.
Mass market sales will be headed by Lisa Rasmussen, who had been v-p and director of sales for Avon. The group will be responsible for all mass market sales to ID accounts, the national chains and mass merchandise retailers. All HC mass market sales for ID accounts will now be handled by the Hearst Distribution Group, which has historically handled Avon's ID distribution. Doug Henderson, who had overseen ID sales of Harper paperbacks, will be leaving the company. Derek Davis, a former HC employee who moved to Avon, will oversee HC's relationship with HDG as v-p, distribution of sales. Jeff Colquitt will be director of mass merchandise sales. Davis and Colquitt will report to Rasmussen.
Frank Fochetta will serve as v-p of Harper Enterprises and will manage special markets, custom and proprietary publishing. Jeff Meltzer will be director of business operations and will be responsible for business operations, co-op advertising, budgets and forecasting. Marwell, Rasmussen, Fochetta and Meltzer will all report to Burke.
The first meeting of the consolidated sales operation will be December 7 when the new group is presented with HC's summer list. Friedman noted that the integration of the sales forces is the final step in joining Morrow and Avon with HC into a unified company.
