British children's book publisher Barefoot Books has completed the first phase of restructuring begun in May with the consolidation of all U.K. operations into a single office in Bath. Late last month the company moved its U.S. offices from New York City to Cambridge, Mass. Cofounder and president Nancy Traversy has relocated to the greater Boston area with her family to oversee U.S. operations, which include the opening of a Barefoot Books retail outlet/showroom, also in
Cambridge, on October 1. Cofounder Tessa Strickland will remain in England, where she heads the U.K. office. The opening of a similar store in England has been postponed.
According to spokesperson Kate Sturgis, newly hired U.S. v-p of sales and marketing, Barefoot changes both here and abroad reflect Strickland and Traversy's commitment to grow the Barefoot brand (Children's Books, Feb. 26). Sturgis's own experience includes 12 years developing the Reebok brand and a year with Play Stages, an educational toy start-up.
Other new hires for the U.S. office include COO Stan Golub, most recently COO and v-p of finance for xmLex Press Inc.; trade and gift markets manager Phyllis Kaplan, formerly national sales manager at Hasbro Interactive; education and library markets manager Stephanie Wendel Burns, previously edu-program manager for VarsityBooks.com; Scott Fletcher, U.S. accounting manager, who joined Barefoot from STMC Manufacturing Corp.; and group operations and logistics manager Karen Janson, formerly with Hasbro Interactive. Helen Dutton has relocated from the U.K. office to manage subrights and special and export markets.
In Cambridge, Barefoot now occupies the third floor of the former Omni Travel building at 3 Bow Street in Harvard Square (across the street from Harvard University); the company has increased its staff from 10 in New York City to 12 in Cambridge. Another eight employees will be added in the coming months in addition to staff for the Barefoot store, which will be located nearby in Porter Square.
