The Hachette Book Group is realigning its sales force to "bring the sales and marketing functions in line with the changing book market--unifying print and digital sales, and integrating research and analytics into HBG's overall sales strategy," as executive v-p and chief marketing and sales officer Evan Schnittman put it. "We are changing our current structure to enable HBG to meet the needs and challenges of our ever-shifting world, where digital has made a deep and lasting impression on the way HBG sells and the customers we sell to, the platforms we advertise on, and the manner and type of content we publish."
The change, which has similarities to changes made at HarperCollins in June, includes the following appointments and promotions. The company said that it will "not be reducing headcount as part of the realignment."
Chris Murphy has been promoted to senior v-p of the newly created retail sales department, which will consist of five sub-departments: national accounts, CBA, clients and Nashville, young reader sales and national field force.
David Bowers has joined the company as senior v-p of sales strategy and operations, a new group within the sales department. He was formerly global v-p of business development and publisher, Oxford Academic Dictionaries, at Oxford University Press. He will oversee operations in sales (analytics, retail promotion, retailer services, e-book platforms services, metadata optimization, business modeling and key author liaison) as well as online retailer and jobber accounts.
The third group, international, Canada and special markets, will continue to be led by Jean Griffin, v-p, ICS, and publishing director Ansel Adams.
In the sales department:
Rick Cobban has been named v-p of national accounts.
Mike Heuer has been promoted to executive director, national field force, and will oversee the company's ID and field sales teams. He has headed the field sales force.
Rich Tullis will expand his role as channel director, online retail and jobbers.
Karen Torres has been promoted to v-p, account marketing and retail operations.
Andy LeCount has been promoted to channel director, chains.
Linda Jamison has been promoted to channel director, merch and clubs.
The changes are the latest in major personnel moves at Hachette, where CEO David Young is returning to Hachette in the U.K. (while remaining chairman of Hachette U.S.), and Michael Pietsch, publisher of Little, Brown, is being promoted to CEO.
In May, Schnittman joined Hachette from Bloomsbury, where he had been managing director, group sales and marketing, print and digital. Previously, he had worked at Oxford University Press for eight years, most recently as v-p, global corporate and business development.