CEO of Penguin Random House Canada Brad Martin will retire as of June 30. He began his publishing career in 1981 as a sales representative at McClelland & Stewart, and became ceo of Random House Canada in 2007. President and publisher Kristin Cochrane will take over as ceo, and will join the PRH global executive committee. Cochrane joined the company in 2005 as associate publisher at Doubleday Canada. (With her appointment, both PRH US and PRH Canada will have female ceos.)
PRH ceo Markus Dohle writes of Cochrane, “As a leader, Kristin has an impressive track record of mentoring and empowering her publishing teams to make our iconic Canadian imprints even more successful. Her focus on creating and enhancing the distinct identity and direction for each of our imprints, while sharing best practices across them, has been instrumental in helping to make Penguin Random House Canada the publishing powerhouse it is today.”
As for Martin, he writes: “Brad’s hands-on approach and deep understanding of the business has helped to ensure that our Canadian operation has delivered multiple years of record performance, and under his direction, Penguin Random House Canada also leads the industry in cultural and philanthropic initiatives…. During the ten years Brad and I have closely worked together, I have admired his commitment to the advancement of our company, his appreciation and support for his team, and most of all, his dedication to this business we all love. Penguin Random House is today stronger than ever because of him.”
At Penguin Books, Victoria Savanh has been promoted to associate editor. Elizabeth Vogt and Gretchen Schmid both move up to assistant editor.
Albert Lee has joined United Talent Agency as a literary agent. He was formerly at Aevitas Creative Management.
Arielle Kane has joined Restless Books in the newly created role of cfo. Previously she was a marketing manager at Atria Publishing Group.
Jack Joseph will leave his position as director of direct-to-consumer sales at Arcadia Publishing on June 15 to become partner and vice president of Nextone Content Group.