People 2/3

Barbara Briel has been promoted to the newly created position of president. She has been svp and coo for the past 10 years, and first joined the company in 2004.

CEO Dominique Raccah said in the announcement, “Mission-driven, analytical, and entrepreneurial, this promotion to president is our way of recognizing the significant impact Barb has already had on the business and the leadership she will continue to have into this next phase of our company’s growth.”

“Barb is the bridge between operations and our publishing program,” svp and editorial director Todd Stocke said. “She is unique in that she not only seamlessly runs our ‘back office’—everything from manufacturing to accounting to customer service to data management—but she also brings a depth of knowledge to our publishing program.”

Seale Ballenger will join as vp, publicity on February 28, reporting to svp of marketing Erin Berger. He was previously publicity director at Disney Publishing Worldwide.

Besse Lynch has joined as senior publicist. She was previously publicity manager at Timber Press.

Annette Hobbs Magier has joined as senior director of marketing and PR. She was previously vp of marketing and publicity at Independent Publishers Group.

Jodi Rosoff has joined as director, publishing partnerships. Previously, Rosoff was director, marketing & publicity at Grand Central/Forever.

Maria Chaves has been promoted to senior accountant.

Alena  Chekanov has been promoted to assistant editor.

James Collier has been promoted to editorial associate.

Debra Liese  has been promoted to senior curator of ideas and partnerships. 

Aga Maziarz  has been promoted to senior accountant.

Eleanor  Smith has been promoted to international rights associate.

Barb Tonetti has been promoted senior reference marketing manager.  

Donna Walker has been promoted to data solutions architect.

Jessie Yang is promoted to senior sales manager.

Hope Ellis joins as managing editor, Square Enix. She was formerly at Berkley.

Zoe Maslow has been promoted to senior editor.

Melanie Tutino has been promoted to editor.