Two and a half years after taking over as president of the Simon & Schuster children's division, Kristina Peterson will step down at the end of the month. In a staff memo, S&S president Jack Romanos said Peterson decided to move on because "she has accomplished her professional and personal goals" at S&S and "is looking for new challenges and opportunities."
Insiders said that staffers were surprised by Peterson's decision. On her watch, the unit had been growing, posting two years of double-digit growth in both sales and profits. Its successes included the two Olivia picture books by Ian Falconer and Robert Sabuda's pop-up hit The Night Before Christmas.
Peterson joined S&S in 2000, when Rick Richter, who had been the head of the children's group, was promoted to president of the sales and distribution group. Before moving to S&S, Peterson held a number of executive positions at Random House, including that of executive v-p of children's publishing and publisher of Fodor's. She also spent one year running the U.S. arm of Dorling Kindersley. Peterson said she plans to remain in the publishing industry, though not necessarily in children's publishing.
S&S has begun the search for a new children's president; until a successor is found, Romanos will work closely with the division's management to conduct day-to-day operations.
