Jonathan Yaged has been named president of the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, succeeding Dan Farley who announced earlier this year his attention to step down from the position. Yaged, who starts January 3, had been with the Disney Book Group for about 10 years before leaving in February to take over as chief operating officer of House Party, a consumer activation and experiential marketing company. In a statement, Macmillan CEO John Sargent, to whom Yaged will report, said, “We are delighted to have Jon join our company. With his recent experience in the social media marketing business, his proven track record as a children’s publisher at Disney, and his extensive business development background, he is an ideal fit for our group at this time.”
Yaged said his decision to leave Disney was "bittersweet" and that he thought at some point he would return to publish. "When the call came from John Sargent, it was not a hard decision to go back," Yaged said. Having seen first hand the power of social media and the Internet, Yaged said he is "looking forward to taking advantage of it in publishing." As for applying digital capabilities to the Macmillan list, Yaged said he will be looking at opportunities in the digital space to accentuate storytelling. Books, Yaged said, are the best form of long form storytelling, and digital options "allows publishers to take core skills and use them in a different medium."
The publishers of Macmillan’s different children’s imprints--Simon Boughton, Jean Feiwel, and Roger Priddy—will report to Yaged, as will director of marketing Joy Dallanegra-Sanger. According to Sargent, Yaged will be tasked with expanding Macmillan’s children’s division as well as developing its digital efforts.
