John Hardy, a 22-year sales veteran at Simon & Schuster, is retiring, effective May 31. Hardy joined the Pocket Book sales group in 1997 as national sales manager for regional wholesalers, including Anderson News, Hudson News, and Aramark. Since then, he has been promoted three times in sales management, and most recently has been senior director of distributor sales and retail marketing, overseeing the sales of Simon & Schuster adult, children's, audio and distribution client lists to a variety of customers, including directly to Walmart, and managing sales teams for Target, Kroger, airports, the military, supermarkets and drugstores, as well as the regional distributors that service this diverse account base.
"John has always been a terrific advocate for our titles and always went above and beyond to establish key partnerships for us with his account base," said S&S senior v-p sales Gary Urda. "What I will miss most about John is his boundless enthusiasm for our books, authors and company; his positive can-do attitude in every situation; and his ability to connect with everyone--buyers, authors, and publishers alike."