Mark Oppegard, ceo of bankrupt NBC Acquisition Corp.–the owner of Nebraska Book Co.–will retire after 14 years leading the company and 42 years of service in all. He will stay on as evp “during a transition period that’s expected to last several months.” COO since 1999 Barry Major takes over as ceo. SVP at the college store division’s Neebo brand Steven Clemente moves up to coo. He joined the company in 2010.
Report
While McGraw-Hill is in “the final stages” of their search for a new head for their education division prior to its spinoff at the end of the year as a separate company, the company has announced adjustments in the unit’s executive ranks.
Patrick Milano, who has been “Director of the Program Management Office of the Corporation’s Growth and Value Plan” takes the more normal job of cfo and chief administrative officer of McGraw-Hill Education. He will report to overall McGraw-Hill cfo Jack Callahan until the new Education ceo is named. The parent company’s associate general counsel David Stafford will become general counsel of McGraw-Hill Education and “will also play a key role building a public company legal team and preparing for the spin-off.” A number of other executives stay in their current roles but with a pathway that will continue to tie them to the education line as it is separated.
All of the business unit presidents within McGraw-Hill Education will report to company chairman, president and ceo Harold McGraw III until the new division ceo is named.
Release
The McEvoy Group has hired Bill Miller as president of Galison Publishing, which comprises Galison, Mudpuppy, Galison Holiday and Galison Private Label. Most recently a consultant, prior to that he was vp of merchandising, gift, product development and calendars at Barnes & Noble.
Debra Linn has been named online marketing manager at Algonquin Books. Previously she was the events and marketing director at Books & Books in Miami, Fla.
The UK’s Bookseller Industry Awards were handed out Monday night in London. Among the honorees:
Publisher: Harper UK
Independent Publisher: Constable and Robinson
Children’s Publisher: Usborne
Imprint and Editor: Harvill Secker; Liz Foley
Agent: Jonny Geller, Curtis Brown UK
Rights Professional: Andy Hine, Little Brown UK
National Bookseller: Foyles
Children’s Bookseller: Foyles
Full list
Pulitzer biographer James McGrath Morris was elected as president of Biographers International Organization; Brian Jay Jones, who is completing a biography of Jim Henson, was chosen as vice president.
Karen Russell has won the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award for her novel SWAMPLANDIA!, receiving a $10,000 prize.
Israeli author Aharon Appelfeld has won the 2012 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize for his novel BLOOMS OF DARKNESS.
The Lambda Literary Foundation’s 2012 Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize has recognizes Stacey D’Erasmo (A Seahorse Year) and Brian Leung (Take Me Home).
INscribe Digital has announced distribution deals with a number of publishers, including Glenn Beck’s company Mercury Ink, along with M-Y Books, the exclusive publisher for the Barbara Cartland estate. The company says they have also “formed pacts” with Folio Literary Management and the Laura Dail Literary Agency, expanding their list of agency relationships. (Movable Type is among those to discuss their work with INscribe in the past.) Many agencies have relationships with more than one digital distributor; it was announced in April that Folio is making the Argo Navis service available to their authors, too, and last year Folio was experimenting with distributor MintRight on digital reissues.
Newsday reporter and ringleader of the 1969 parody NAKED CAME THE STRANGER Mike McGrady, 78, died Sunday in Shelton, WA.