At HarperCollins: Morrison Leaving; Burnham, Stehlik Promoted

At HarperCollins, Michael Morrison, president and publisher, U.S. General Books Group, is leaving at the end of the month after 19 years with the company. With his departure, Jonathan Burnham and Liate Stehlik will be promoted to president and publisher of their groups.

"After 35 years of going to a Manhattan skyscraper every day, I thought it was about time I experienced a different life," Morrison. He joined HarperCollins in 1999 as v-p, associate publisher. He also served as executive v-p, publisher of Morrow/Avon and president and group publisher of the HarperMorrow division. Earlier he held a variety of positions at Bantam Doubleday Dell, Simon & Schuster and Random House. At Random House, he was sales director of the Knopf/Vintage Group and headed RandomHouseAudio.

HarperCollins president and CEO Brian Murray praised Morrison for having "run an extremely successful publishing division in the most challenging and competitive segments of trade, during the most tumultuous period of digital evolution. Under his guidance, the division published books that won hundreds of literary prizes, sold millions of copies, and impacted our culture in numerous ways. Michael has been a positive force for authors and employees at HarperCollins throughout his tenure. We are grateful for all his contributions and wish him well in his future endeavors."

Jonathan Burnham will be promoted to president and publisher, Harper, overseeing Harper, Harper Paperbacks, Harper Perennial, Harper Business, Harper Design, Harper Wave, Broadside Books, Amistad and Ecco.

Liate Stehlik will be promoted to president and publisher, William Morrow/Avon, overseeing William Morrow, Avon, Dey Street, Harper Voyager and Custom House.

Calling Burnham and Stehlik "extremely talented executives and strong publishers," Murray added: "As our strategy has shifted towards greater global growth and as we have expanded our trade publishing program across 24 countries and 17 languages, it's imperative that our management organization, roles and responsibilities align with our overall approach. This new structure will allow us to better serve our authors and achieve our publishing and business objectives."

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