After 13 years as ceo of HarperCollins UK, Victoria Barnsley is leaving the company at the end of the week following a restructuring of Harper’s international business. Under the new structure, the management of HarperCollins Australia, HarperCollins New Zealand and HarperCollins India will be transferred from the UK to the US, where they will now report directly to Brian Murray. Replacing Barnsley as ceo is Charlie Redmayne, the company’s former chief digital officer who left in 2011 to serve as Pottermore’s chief executive officer. Redmayne starts back at Harper UK on August 5 and will report to Murray.
In a statement Barnsley said: “I’ve always wanted to time my departure so that I could leave the company at the right moment and in the best possible shape. Now is that time. HarperCollins is about to embark on a new chapter of its long history as part of the new News Corp, and I’m more than confident that its very talented teams, working with our best-in-class authors, will continue to go from strength to strength. I know they will continue to show the drive, creativity and new thinking that last year secured us the much-coveted Publisher of the Year title in the UK.”
Redmayne, in his own statement, expressed his “delight” upon returning, and that Harper UK “has some of the best publishers and editors in the industry – and over the last few years has invested in new skillsets to support those editors, producing a tremendous publishing business. I am looking forward to working with the team to build on that invaluable foundation and fulfill the potential of this terrific company.”
Murray commented on Barnsley: “Vicky has made many wonderful contributions to HarperCollins UK and International. She has run a successful publishing program, including winning hundreds of literary prizes, and significantly enhanced the company’s digital efforts. We are grateful for her contributions and wish her well on her future endeavors.” And on Redmayne, he said: “Charlie’s experience and success operating at the leading edge of publishing makes him uniquely qualified to lead HarperCollins UK in this time of tremendous digital opportunity. I am thrilled he will be rejoining HarperCollins and his former colleagues.”
With Redmayne leaving, Pottermore has promoted chief technology officer Julian Thomas to interim ceo, and is now searching for a permanent replacement.
In other personnel news, Ami Greko has joined Goodreads as book marketing strategist, working from New York. She was previously senior vendor relations manager at Kobo.
At Macmillan Children’s, Amy Allen has been promoted to assistant editor.
Aurum Publishing has announced a number of promotions and changes as the company consolidates. Current sales director for Aurum and Quayside Publishing Group Adrian Greenwood takes on the role of sales director overseeing UK sales, while Jessica Axe has been promoted to the newly created role of campaigns director as part of a merging of the marketing and publicity departments, which sees head of marketing Sam Shone reporting to Axe. Jessica Halliwell has been promoted to managing editor across all Aurum editorial groups, while Laura Grandi moves up to head of production. Finally, at Frances Lincoln, Sue Tarsky has been promoted to publisher, while Janetta Otter-Barry will continue to acquire titles for her own eponymous imprint.
As of July, 1, Liz Gately Book Scouting is working for LeYa in Brazil and Portugal and Maeva in Spain.