• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login
  • Register
Publishers Lunch logo Publishers Lunch logo
  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help
Login Sign Up
  • Personnel
  • AI
  • Compensation
  • Unions
  • Book Bans
  • New Releases
  • Earnings
  • The Trial
  • Archives
Publishers Lunch logo
  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help
  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help

September 22, 2011By Michael Cader

Powell’s Reorganizes Management As Eight Executives Depart

September 22, 2011By Michael Cader

Powell’s Books has laid off “eight managers with many years of service to the company” as part of a reorganization of their corporate management structure. The company say it’s part “a continued effort to respond to the rapidly changing book industry.” Emily Powell acknowledges, “This is a difficult and painful time for Powell’s. The managers who were laid off today will be greatly missed.”

CEO of Operations Ann Smith is retiring after 26 years at the company. Emily Powell will serve as president and ceo, managing marketing and store operations, as Miriam Sontz expands her role as chief operating officer, managing inventory, information technology, finance, and facilities. The company says their reorganization “focuses on operational strength and customer experience.” Powell says they will be “integrating similar functions throughout the company that operated independently in the past. We have also renewed our focus on customers as part of this process.”

In February, the bookseller laid off 31 employees, or seven percent of their staff, citing “changing consumer behavior,” in particular the rise of ebooks, as well as changing nature of the business.

In addition, the Powell’s workers union has asked the federal Department of Labor to investigate its former bookkeeper/treasurer Britta Duncan, who is accused of having embezzled up to $50,000 from the bookstore before her departure last spring. The Portland Mercury reports that union leadership told Powell’s employees that “the new treasurer, who started last spring, quickly noticed errors and strange issues in the union’s finances.”

Filed Under: Bookstores, Free, Personnel

sidebar

Primary Free Sidebar

Login

Forgot Password Quick Pass User Login
Get Full Access
The Publishing Industry’s Essential Daily Read

Each Publishers Lunch Deluxe subscription includes full access to our searchable multi-year archive of industry news, a nightly email reporting 10 to 50 deal transactions, and our database of industry contacts, scripts, and posting privileges.

Learn More

RSS Automat

  • Sourcebooks Makes Inc.'s Best Workplaces 2025 List June 18, 2025 Magazine list
  • Pearson to Acquire Career and Technical Education Leader eDynamic Learning June 16, 2025 Press Release
  • James Frey Has Rich Friends, and They Like His New Book June 12, 2025 WSJ
  • Leon Levy Foundation Awards $300,000 Grant to the Authors Guild Foundation to Preserve Literary Advocacy Archives June 10, 2025 Authors Guild
  • Trending: Tote Bags That Hold Just A Book June 10, 2025 Elle
  • Hadley, MA B&N Workers OK Union Contract After Two Years of Negotiation June 6, 2025 Daily Hampshire Gazette
  • Authors Guild Update On Albert Whitman Bankruptcy Hearing June 5, 2025 AG post
  • "Frozen Yogurt and Fiction Collide" As Pinkberry Promotes Emily Henry (And Their Limited Flavor, Summer Melon Crush) June 3, 2025 Press release
  • JennaFest Draws 200 Readers; She Says She Is Collaborating On a Screen Project with Elin Hilderbrand June 2, 2025 Today
  • Chicago Sun-Times Investigation Admits Everyone Remotely Connected to Bogus AI Supplement Was Lazy, Greedy, or Both May 30, 2025 Sun-Times
Publishers Marketplace logo

Contact Us

News

  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Report News
  • Discuss
  • Classifieds
  • Rights Offerings

Deals

  • Report A Deal

Books

  • Buzz Books

Jobs

  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy Terms of Use