Bertelsmann’s supervisory board has renewed Thomas Rabe‘s contract as ceo for another 5 years. He took the top job four years ago, after serving as cfo. The company has also hired Bernd Hirsch as chief financial officer, starting on April 1. Hirsch, who most recently was cfo at global supplier of fragrances and flavorings Symrise, will join the Bertelsmann Group Management Committee as well.
At Rowman & Littlefield, Oliver Gadsby has been promoted to the newly created role of president of their Academic and Professional Division.
Tyndale House president Mark Taylor was made ceo and chairman of the board, following the retirement last December of Charles Stair. Jeff Johnson was promoted to president and chief operating officer.
In promotions on the James Patterson team at Hachette Book Group: Ned Rust is now vp, James Patterson Publishing Director, overseeing all Patterson-related editorial, marketing, and publicity efforts; Jenny Bak moved up to senior editor for Jimmy Patterson Books and Sabrina Benun is now marketing manager for that imprint (as well as Patterson’s philanthropic efforts), with Aubrey Poole joining the line as editor on February 1, reporting to Bak (she was at Sourcebooks). Trish Daly starts on February 8 as an editor for James Patterson (she was an associate editor at William Morrow). Kapo Ng is now senior art director for James Patterson; and Erinn McGrath has joined the team as publicity manager.
Leslie Wells and Liz Van Hoose have joined the independent editors collective 5E.
At Macmillan Children’s Publishing, Kallam McKay has been promoted to digital marketing associate.
Miguel Cervantes will join PublicAffairs on February 1 as marketing coordinator. Previously he was a marketing assistant at Little, Brown.
Correcting our earlier item, it’s Emily Wunderlich who has been promoted to associate editor at Viking Penguin.
Events
ReedPop will hold a three-day Star Trek con in September at the Javits Center to commemorate the show’s 50th anniversary.
Awards
Barnes & Noble announced the finalists for its Discover Great New Writers Awards:
Fiction
In the Country: Stories by Mia Alvar (Knopf)
The Turner House by Angela Flournoy (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
The Unfortunates by Sophie McManus (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Nonfiction
Becoming Nicole by Amy Ellis Nutt (Random House)
Bettyville by George Hodgman (Viking)
Ghettoside by Jill Leovy (Spiegel & Grau)