Lonely Planet has appointed Matthew Goldberg as ceo as of March, reporting to BBC Worldwide managing director of Global Brands Marcus Arthur and based in Melbourne, Australia. He was svp, digital strategy & operations at Dow Jones, where he led business operations at the Wall Street Journal Digital Network. (Prior to Dow Jones, Goldberg worked at Bertelsmann.)
Arthur says in the announcement that Goldberg “has extensive experience in print and digital media and is a perfect fit for a company like Lonely Planet both culturally and commercially. I’ve no doubt that Matt’s expertise will not only help maintain Lonely Planet’s core business in printed travel guides, but will also seek to optimize opportunities in alternative media markets as the business enters the next phase of its digital development.”
At Trident Media Group, Alanna Ramirez has been promoted to agent (she was audio rights agent and special assistant to Robert Gottlieb); Elizabeth Kellogg has been promoted to audio rights agent.
Separately, Elizabeth Evans, who has worked for Reece Halsey North for four years, is opening Reece Halsey New York on January 15. It’s the agency’s third branch office (in addition to locations in Tiburon, CA and Paris).
At the Donald Maass Literary Agency, J.L. Stermer has been promoted to contracts director & agent. She will be representing fiction and (new for this fiction-specialty agency) selected nonfiction.
In distribution news, NBN will distribute UK publisher Gibson Square in the US as the company launches its first American list of seven titles in fall 2009. Twelve to 15 US releases are planned for 2010. The initial list will include Globalization by Richard Branson; The Art of always Being Right: 38 Ways to Win an Argument by Arthur Schopenhaur; A Dictionary of Idiocy by Stephen Bayley; The Pursuit of Laughter by Diana Mitford; and, The Great Wine Swindle by Malcolm Gluck.