MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
December 14- December 21, 2006 Edition
Hachette Deputy
Chairman Egen
to Step Down
NEW YORK, NY/12/12/06—Maureen Egen, deputy chairman and publisher of the Hachette Book Group USA, has announced she is stepping down from her publishing roles as of this January 1 and will leave the company by this summer. Egen joined Time Warner Book Group in 1990, before the company was sold last year to Hachette. At that time David Young succeeded Larry Kirshbaum as chairman and publisher. No replacement for Egen has been named.
The chief publisher said of her decision that it seems like “the right time to go.” She had worked with some of the company’s brightest literary stars, including James Patterson, Brad Meltzer, and Joel Osteen, and will continue to work with some authors and publishers until the summer.
Publishers will now report directly to David Young, presumably including Michael Pietsch, Senior Vice President & Publisher of Little, Brown and Company; Jamie Raab, Senior Vice President & Publisher of Warner Books; Megan Tingley, Vice President and Publisher of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Rolf Zettersten, Vice President and Publisher, FaithWords & Center Street.
David Young was appointed Chairman and Chief Executive of the company in January 2006, having been Chief Executive of the former sister company, Time Warner Book Group UK since 2000. He joined the company as Managing Director of Little, Brown and Company UK (as it was then called) in 1996.
David began his career in publishing when he joined Thorsons, the Mind, Body and Spirit publisher, as Production Manager in 1970 and was named Managing Director in 1980. When HarperCollins acquired Thorsons in 1989, he was appointed to their board, and was named Divisional Managing Director of HarperCollins Trade division in 1993.
Ms. Egen joined the company in 1990 as Editor-in-Chief, Warner Hardcover Books at which time she was responsible for editing Scarlett and discovering and publishing The Bridges of Madison County. After a number of executive editorial positions, she was named President in 1998. She has been the driving force behind the company’s biggest successes, including books from bestselling authors Brad Meltzer, David Baldacci, James Bradley, Maria Shriver, James Patterson, Sidney Sheldon, Robert Kiyosaki, J. Randy Taraborelli, and Nelson DeMille.
Prior to joining HBG, Ms. Egen held numerous positions at Doubleday & Company Inc. where she was employed for more than twenty years. These include senior editorial positions, marketing and finance positions, and Publisher and Editorial Director of the Doubleday Book Clubs (now a part of Bookspan).
Hachette Book Group USA (HBG) was created when Hachette Livre, a French publishing company, acquired Time Warner Book Group from Time Warner in 2006. Hachette Livre is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lagardère, a company that is active on a worldwide basis in the areas of communications and media (books, press, audiovisual and distribution/retailing of cultural products).
