In her first significant move since being named to the new position of CEO of HarperCollins U.S. trade in February, Liate Stehlik has reorganized the company’s sales operations. Under the restructuring, the sales team will be separated into divisional sales and channel sales groups, with the leaders reporting to Doug Lockhart, interim president of sales.
In her memo to staff, Stehlik wrote that the new structure “sharpens our expertise at every stage by separating strategic internal partnership from customer-facing execution.”
The divisional sales team, Stehlik wrote, “will serve as the key link between sales and publishing, shaping go-to-market strategy.” The channel sales, meanwhile, “will now have dedicated channel leaders who will oversee both Adult and Children’s, with a mandate to drive growth.”
As a result of the change, Kelly Roberts has been promoted to SVP and deputy director of sales and will be responsible for connecting HC’s sales and publishing operations.
Among the other changes, Monica Shah, VP of children’s sales, will lead the children’s divisional sales team while also taking on an expanded role overseeing the national accounts channel for both adult and children’s.
Stefanie Lindner, VP of mass merch, will oversee all mass merch for adult and children’s. For the online channel, Marianna Ricciuto has been promoted to the newly-created role of director of online sales, overseeing audio and digital. Jess Abel has been promoted to director of online sales, overseeing Amazon sales of children’s print and e-books. And Ashley Mihlebach, senior director of online sales, will continue to oversee adult Amazon print and e-book sales.
The other channel leads remain: Kathy Faber, VP of independent sales and wholesale; Jean McGinley, SVP of rights and permissions; James Phirman, VP of special markets; and Alison Smith, senior director of international sales.
“The new structure is a more agile, accountable, and collaborative organization that can both drive revenue and deliver informed support to our partners,” Stelhik wrote.
