Jack Romanos was the most prominent publishing figure to leave the industry this year, as the CEO of Simon & Schuster retired at the end of 2007. He was succeeded by Carolyn Reidy. In her first major appointments, Reidy promoted Michael Selleck to executive v-p of sales and marketing, while Dennis Eulau was named executive v-p of operations. Larry Norton, who had overseen sales, left the company at yearend.
Random House saw a number of execs depart in the year. In February, executive v-p and COO Don Weisberg, who also ran the company's sales operation, resigned. Random did not directly replace Weisberg, appointing deputy chairman Ed Volini to oversee the sales group. Another longtime Random executive, Jackie Everly, resigned as senior v-p, associate publisher and executive director of marketing at Doubleday Broadway. Suzanne Herz was promoted to replace Everly. In June, Sheryl Stebbins stepped down as v-p and publisher of Random House Value Publishing, with Susan Hettleman named to supervise the unit. David Naggar, president of the Random House Audio & Diversified Publishing, Random House Information and Fodor's Travel groups, resigned late in the year. Nancy Miller, one-time editor-in-chief of Ballantine and most recently senior v-p and executive editor, left in October. Tim Ditlow, publisher of Random Audio's Listening Library division, left the company at yearend. As part of Random's decision to form one religion book group, Stephen Cobb was named president of the Doubleday Religious Publishing Group; Bill Barry, president of Doubleday Religion, resigned.
Steve Ross resigned as senior v-p and publisher of Crown to become president and publisher of HarperCollins's Collins U.S. division. He replaced Joe Tessitore, who resigned earlier in the year. Crown promoted Tina Constable from executive director of publicity to publisher of Crown, Crown Business and Crown Forum. In late winter, Harper hired Lisa Sharkey as senior v-p/creative development in a move that effectively replaced the ousted Judith Regan. Brian Murray, HarperCollins group president, was promoted to the newly created position of president of HarperCollins worldwide. At Zondervan, Doug Lockhart resigned as president at the end of June and Maureen Girkins was named to succeed him starting in 2008.
Penguin appointed Amy Einhorn publisher of her own imprint within the Putnam group. Eamon Dolan left his post as editor-in-chief of Houghton Mifflin to join Penguin Press in a similar role. He replaced Scott Moyers, who joined the Wylie Agency. Luke Dempsey was named to replace Laureen Rowland as editor-in-chief of Hudson Street Press, while Cherise Davis was named editor-in-chief of Plume. Jeff Gomez, head of Internet marketing at Macmillan, was named senior director of online consumer sales and marketing at Penguin.
Hachette named Beth Ford COO and executive v-p, while April Hattoria was named v-p of communications. Deb Futter joined Hachette's Grand Central imprint as v-p and editor-in-chief of its hardcover division, filling a position left open when Amy Einhorn departed. Futter was deputy editorial director at Doubleday. Another ex-Doubleday employee, Michelle Rapkin, was named executive editor of Hachette's Center Street imprint. Amy Pierpont was named editorial director of Grand Central's romance imprint Forever.
With the completion of Houghton Mifflin's acquisition of Harcourt, Gary Gentel was tabbed to run the combined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade and Reference Publishers. At McGraw-Hill, Philip Ruppel was promoted to president of McGraw-Hill Professional. Linda Cunningham left as editorial director of Meredith Books. Jonathan Merkh was named publisher of Guidepost Books, and Jennifer Willingham was appointed v-p of marketing.
As part of a major restructuring, Marcus Wilhelm resigned as head of Bookspan and was replaced by Stuart Goldfarb, who heads a combined books and music club operation, Bertelsmann Direct North America. In late 2007, Hartmut Ostrowski took over as chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann.
Among the major personnel shifts at independent houses, Gary Krebs left AdamsMedia to become group publisher at Globe Pequot. Don Linn, former owner of Consortium, took over as president of the Taunton Press book group. Bill Krause was promoted to publisher of Llewellyn Worldwide. Neal Maillet was named publisher of Workman's Timber Press imprint.
In children's publishing, there were some major moves: Lisa Holton stepped down as head of Scholastic's trade and book fair divisions. Ellie Berger was named to succeed her as head of trade, while Alan Boyko was named president of book fairs. On the executive side, Maureen O'Connell, who had spent two years at Barnes & Noble, was named chief administrative officer as well as CFO. Bill Boedeker was named director of children's publishing at Chronicle. Walter Lorraine, a 55-year veteran of Houghton Mifflin's children books, retired at the end of the year. Former Disney editor-in-chief Brenda Bowen was hired by HarperCollins to launch her own children's imprint. Stephen Roxburgh was named publisher of Boyds Mills Press.
In retail, Borders named Robert Gruen executive v-p of marketing and merchandising and Kenneth Armstrong was appointed executive v-p of U.S. stores, replacing Vin Altruda. Ric Vanzura, executive v-p for emerging technology/chief strategy officer, and Bill Nasshan, senior v-p of trade books, left the company. Susan Harwood, CIO at Books-a-Million, was named to head Borders's technology efforts.
In distribution, Susan Reich was named president of PGW July 30, while Arnie Wright was named president of Baker & Taylor.
