Simon & Schuster wasn't the only house making personnel changes last week. With the departure of Louise Burke to S&S, Penguin Putnam has promoted Leslie Gelbman to president of Penguin Mass Market Paperbacks, a newly created position in which she will be responsible for all of the company's mass market paperback efforts. In her new post, Gelbman will oversee the NAL operation, which had reported to Burke, while retaining her duties as president, publisher and editor-in-chief of Berkley Books. All trade paperbacks and hardcovers published under the NAL and Berkley imprints will now fall under her domain.

Gelbman, who began at Putnam 12 years ago, will continue to report to David Shanks, Penguin COO. Shanks said that aside from the change in leadership, all other aspects of NAL and Berkley will remain the same, and that there are no plans to merge the imprints.

Penguin Putnam CEO Phyllis Grann appears to have grown fond of imprints. Less than one month after naming Bill Shinker to head his own imprint, Grann has lured Adrian Zackheim from HarperCollins to start a new business and finance imprint that will ultimately publish about 20 books a year. The unnamed imprint will be part of the Viking/Penguin/Plume group, directed by Susan Petersen Kennedy.

Zackheim will start at Penguin September 4, and his first list will likely appear in the first half of 2003. Zackheim expects to hire an editor soon and will add a dedicated marketing staff as the imprint grows. Grann said Zackheim's presence "will be a magnet for top business authors." She added that while the new imprint will "lend focus to our business publishing efforts," other Penguin imprints will continue to publish business and finance books as they see fit. Among the authors Zackheim has worked with are John Naisbitt, Harvey MacKay, David Packard, Jim Collins and Scott Adams.

Zackheim had been at HC for seven years, most recently serving as associate publisher and editor-in-chief of HarperInformation.

Shinker Signs Editor

While Shinker may not have a name yet for his imprint, he has hired Lauren Marino as executive editor. Marino, who starts at Penguin September 4, had worked with Shinker at Broadway Books, where she most recently served as executive editor. Among the bestsellers Marino acquired were If Life Is a Game by Cherie Carter Scott and Cheryl Richardson's Take Time for Your Life.