Dick Heffernan, who has been running Penguin’s adult hardcover and children’s sales since 1996, will retire at the end of the year. In a memo to Penguin Random House employees, Madeline McIntosh, president and COO, said that despite her efforts to change Heffernan’s mind to retire, he “remained steadfast in this personal choice.” PRH filled some of Heffernan’s responsibilities by promoting John Lawton to senior v-p, director of adult hardcover sales for Penguin beginning on January 2. Lawton, who will report to McIntosh, has been v-p of national accounts for Penguin’s adult hardcover division.
In her memo, McIntosh said that as PRH begins the work of developing the PRH sales department, Heffernan has been “invaluable in both getting our new company properly on course, and in continuing to motivate everyone to realize the sales potential of the Penguin Group lists under his direction.”
Heffernan began his career as a Doubleday sales rep in1974 and became v-p of sales in 1987. He joined Putnam in 1989 and in addition to his sales duties he oversaw a range of Penguin businesses including Penguin Audio, the Speakers’ Bureau, Satellite Tours, International, and special market and gift sales.
“Over the course of this four-decade career,” McIntosh closed, “Dick has had a guiding hand in the success of tens of thousands of books, selling tens of millions of them -- from Doubleday’s Jaws and Roots, all the way through recent Penguin Group milestones such as The Help, No Easy Day, and all three of Khaled Hosseini’s massive bestsellers. Equally resonant are his contributions to building authors’ careers across all categories and levels, and his gracefulness at enhancing and balancing author, publisher, and bookseller relationships at every opportunity.”
