People 1/9

Hayley Wagreich has joined as director of original development, reporting to ceo Molly Stern. She will manage the launch of Zando Projects, which will develop original content with the company’s publishing partners. “Under the Zando Projects umbrella, Wagreich will engage writers to develop work across genres, including fiction, nonfiction, and paper products aligned with a Zando partner’s brand and mission. The partners will serve as inspiration for these original works, and will collaborate with the Zando team on ideation as well as powerful promotional efforts to connect these original projects with readers,” a release states. Wagreich was previously head of content at podcast studio Realm.

As Wagreich joins, Andrew Rein’s title changes to head of sales and publishing.

CEO Kwame Spearman is running for mayor of Denver as “a political outsider that not only brings fresh ideas, but real solutions and a willingness to tackle the big problems that the city is facing.” He will compete against a number of well-known politicians, and the campaign may reignite grievances against Spearman and Tattered Cover management aired by employees last year.

In the meantime, he suggests the bookstore was near failure — “When we bought Tattered Cover, the organization was headed towards bankruptcy. The amount of revenue from our stores was not enough to support the entire organization” — and that his team’s plan has been to grow their way out of trouble. “By adding more stores, we’re hoping to provide more revenue — which will help us get to a point where we can pay people what they deserve.”

Spearman says he would resign from the bookstores if elected — and may do so during the campaign: “We have a lot of contingencies in place for the next few months. We’re working with our board and our senior leadership team on those things. And as soon as they are public, we will let folks know. But as of Monday, I’m still CEO of Tattered Cover.”

Lashanda Anakwah has joined as editor. She was previously at Simon & Schuster.

Sarah Sisterson has been promoted to art director.

Sabrina Montenigro has been promoted to marketing associate, educational & library marketing.

Jody Stigliano has been promoted to senior manager, library & educational brand marketing.

Emily Harburg has been promoted to assistant editor at Labyrinth Road.

Ariel Pakier joins today as editorial director of trade non-fiction. She was senior commissioning editor at Michael Joseph.