Following the surprise annual meeting vote restoring co-founder Laurence Orbach as executive chairman of the Quarto board, company ceo Marcus Leaver has resigned his position. Chuk Kin Lau, who owns a 27-percent stake in the company and also joined the board in the recent will serve as interim ceo. Leaver said in the announcement: “I would like to thank everyone at Quarto for their hard work and resilience during my tenure as CEO.” Orbach writes: “The continued output of very high-quality books is a testament to Marcus’s leadership and an impressive demonstration of the strengths of Quarto’s talented employees. Quarto remains focused on producing great books for its readers during this period of managerial transition and we look forward to moving the business forward and build upon its strengths.”
Marieke Niezen was promoted to managing director of Bruna in Holland on May 1, responsible for the day-to-day management of the company. She took over from Johan de Koning “will remain involved with the company for the coming year as an adviser.”
At Harper Collins, Gideon Weil has been promoted to vp, editorial director and general manager at Harper One, continuing to report to Judith Curr. Weil will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the San Francisco office, in addition to continuing his editorial responsibilities.
Separately, Alison Smith has been promoted to director, international sales closed market, with responsibilities for sales and marketing of Harper US titles in Canada, UK, Australia,
New Zealand, South Africa and India. Julianna Wojcik has been promoted to the new position of assistant manager for the global publishing program.
Ingenta announced that ceo David Montgomery has stepped aside “temporarily for personal health reasons.” CFO Scott Winner will serve as acting ceo as well. The board said that it “is supporting David in a difficult time and a further statement will be issued when the situation becomes clearer.”
At McGraw-Hill Professional, Casey Ebro has been promoted to executive editor in the business group.
Brooke Shearouse has joined Abrams Children’s in the new role of senior publicist. Previously she was with Scholastic.
At Canada’s House of Anansi Press, Janie Yoon has been promoted to associate publisher. In addition, Michelle MacAleese joins as editor; most recently she was an editor at Knopf Canada.
Distribution
Independent Publishers Group has announced eight new clients. IPG started distributing Omnibus Press on May 1 and will distribute trade books published by the American Academy of Pediatrics starting June 1. Trafalgar Square has begun US and Canadian distribution for three new publishers from the UK’s Pallas Athene Publishers: Did You See the Crocodile?, The Gelofer Press and NW1 Books. Also, Aspen Books, RedDoor Publishing, and Perronet Press will also be distributed by Trafalgar Square as of July 1.
Abrams will distribute Obvious State starting June 1.
Bookselling
Books Inc. will open their twelfth store on Saturday, in Campbell, CA.
Cover Reveal
Crown has released the jacket design for Michelle Obama’s Becoming.