MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
July 26 – Aug 1, 2010 Edition Random House Makes Key Editorial Staff Changes
NEW YORK, NY/July 27, 2010–Susan Mail, Random House senior vice president and editor-in-chief has been named to the additional position of Publisher of the Random House and Dial Press imprints. She will report to Random House president and publisher Gina Centrello, who made the announcement today.
In a staff memo, Centrello said: Few in our industry match Susans skill of identifying and editing literary titles that can cross over into national bestsellerdom. To name just a few recent examples: THE GUERNSEY LITERARY AND POTATO PEEL PIE SOCIETY by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, with over two million copies in print, MAJOR PETTIGREWS LAST STAND by Helen Simonson, and THE IMPERFECTIONISTS. Susan will continue to edit a select number of books a year, including the internationally bestselling SHOPAHOLIC series and the stand-alone novels of Sophie Kinsella. Working closely with her colleagues as Editor-in-Chief, Susan is a gracious manager and a peerless advocate for our group with authors, agents, booksellers and reviewers. She has contributed a clear editorial vision to the shaping of the Random House list and has been an energetic force in supporting all of the books we publish. In her new role, Susan will be a motivating decision maker on all aspects of the publishing process. The Random House and Dial Press editorial staff will report to Susan.
During the past seven months, the Random House Publishing Groups efforts have resulted in some of the most successful hardcover, paperback, and e-book publishing of 2010: Lee Child’s #1 bestselling 61 HOURS; Justin Cronin’s word-of-mouth sensation THE PASSAGE; and Lisa Sees SHANGHAI GIRLS trade paperback were among our 68 to-date New York Times bestsellers, as were THE IMPERFECTIONISTS by Tom Rachman and THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET by David Mitchell, following their front-page New York Times Book Review coverage.
KATE MEDINA, Executive Vice President, continues reporting to Centrello. Her list of extraordinary Random House authors includes E.L. Doctorow, John Irving, Jon Meacham, Tom Brokaw and Anna Quindlen, among others. Susan will join Kate, Libby McGuire, Jane von Mehren, Cindy Spiegel, Julie Grau and Tom Perry as part of RHPGs senior leadership team.
Centrello also announced that that TOM PERRY, Executive Vice President, Deputy Publisher, will join Susan at the Random House imprint.Toms clear-headed contributions to our overall publishing strategies, his skill in coordinating the many moving parts which are crucial to successful publishing, his insights on acquisition, and his deep commitment to Random House make him ideal to partner with Susan in overseeing the day-to-day operations of the imprint, said Centrello. While I am sorry hell be giving up his current RHPG group-wide role working directly with me, his return to focusing on the Little Random imprint, spending full time on publishing the Random House titles, will be vital to the ongoing success of the RH publishing program.
In addition to Toms role as Deputy Publisher of the RH imprint, he has also been appointed Publisher of The Modern Library, the line of classics, reporting to Centrello in this capacity.
With Tom’s appointment, THERESA ZORO and SANYU DILLON will now report to Centrello.
Theresa’s has been promoted to Senior Vice President, Director of Publicity for the entire Random House Publishing Group. In her new role, she will lead integrated publicity departments, working closely with each publisher and with Centrello in setting strategic goals and priorities across all of the Group’s imprints. SALLY MARVIN maintains her central leadership role as Vice President, Director of Publicity for the Random House, Spiegel & Grau, the Dial Press, Modern Library, and Random House Trade Paperback imprints, continuing to plan and oversee the execution of publicity campaigns for those imprints. SUSAN CORCORAN has been promoted to Vice President, Director of Publicity for Ballantine Bantam Dell. In her new role, she will assume managing the day-to-day responsibilities of the publicity department closely with Theresa and will continue to develop and execute campaigns for the Ballantine Bantam Dell group.
Sanyu continues her efforts in setting and executing the Group-wide marketing strategy, working together with each of the imprints as Senior Vice President, Director of Marketing. Moving forward, Grant Neumann, Senior Director, Random House Copy Department, and Kelle Ruden, Coordinating Director, will newly report to her in their current responsibilities.
The changes announced today will ensure our current publishing success continues for the long term. It is a joy to give these expanded roles and responsibilities to colleagues as talented and as dedicated as Susan, Tom, Theresa, Sanyu, and Susan, the publisher concluded.
