Effective April 30, Stephen Morrison of Penguin Books will step into the role of v-p and publisher for Picador, reporting to Jonathan Galassi and Stephen Rubin. The hire comes shortly after the announcement that Frances Coady was stepping down.

In a prepared statement Macmillan said: "In a time when trade paperbacks are experiencing a momentous transition, Stephen brings exactly the right combination of enthusiasm, fortitude, resourcefulness and experience to grow Picador into a dynamic division committed to publishing a wide range of paperback reprints, paperback originals, hardcover works of fiction and nonfiction and digital-only publications. Stephen’s mandate is to make Picador one of the industry’s most undaunted, aggressive marketing machines, culling books from all of Macmillan’s divisions, including St. Martins, FSG and Holt."

As Penguin's associate publisher and editor-in-chief, Morrison oversaw the publisher's backlist, including both Penguin Books and Penguin Classics. Before joining Penguin in 2005, he was director of rights/contracts and executive editor at Bloomsbury, a senior editor at Penguin and a senior scout at Maria B. Campbell Associates.