Freese Named Head of Recorded Books

Rich Freese has been named president and chief executive officer at Recorded Books. Freese, who was most recently president of National Book Network, is replacing Scott Williams.

Job Moves: April 29, 2011

Judy Courtade has been appointed associate director, client services for Perseus Distribution. Courtade has over 30 years of publishing sales experience, and most recently was sales director for Black Dog & Leventhal. She succeeds Megan Geise.

Job Moves: April 28, 2011

Kathyrn Beaumont has been named an agent at Kneerim & Williams. Beaumont, a journalist (for magazines like People) and lawyer, has also been named an associate at Stern Shapiro Weissberg & Garin LLP (where Kneerim & Williams founder John Taylor "Ike" Williams is of counsel).

Job Moves: April 27, 2011

Agent David Hale Smith has joined Inkwell Management. Smith, who ran his own shop, DHS Literary, represents crime and suspense authors as well as literary fiction writers, and a range of nonfiction authors.

Book Event Organizer Kim Ricketts Dies

Kim Ricketts, founder of Kim Ricketts Book Events, died Monday. She had been suffering from AL amyloidosis and a rare bone cancer since last fall. Ricketts was a fixture in Seattle’s food, restaurant, and book industries, organizing popular "Wine & Words" and "Cooks and Books" events. Among the authors she worked with were Mario Batali, Anthony Bourdain, Michael Pollan, and David Chang.

Job Moves: April 26, 2011

Steve Wasserman has been named executive editor-at-large for general interest books at Yale University Press. Wasserman, who worked at the Los Angeles Times and held several positions in publishing (at Hill and Wang and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, among others), was most recently an agent at Kneerim and Williams. He will continue to represent a handful writers, including Christopher Hitchens, Peter Brooks, and Placido Domingo.

Job Moves: April 25, 2011

Lynda Zuber Sassi has been named director of special sales for Ryland Peters & Small and CICO Books. She was previously national accounts manager, special sales at Chronicle Books.

Wilderness Press Founder Thomas Winnett Dies at 89

Thomas Winnett, founder of Wilderness Press, has died. He was 89. Winnett founded the house with the publication of Sierra North in 1967—a groundbreaking book at the time, since no other trail guide like it existed for the Sierra backcountry.

Job Moves: April 20, 2011

Susan Mercandetti is returning to ABC News as v-p for business development and partnerships. Mercandetti spent more than 10 years at the company before moving to print, where she held positions at Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.

Job Moves: April 18, 2011

Elizabeth Barden Ackerman recently left her position as executive editor of Science A-Z at Learning A-Z/Cambium Learning Technologies, to become executive editor, science, at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Shannon Trades Paperback for Digital at Random House

Random House Publishing Group president Gina Centrello has appointed Scott Shannon to the newly created position of senior v-p, publisher, digital content for Little Random. Most recently publisher of Ballantine Bantam Dell Mass Market, Shannon will now oversee the day-to-day digital-publishing decision-making for the group. With his promotion, Libby McGuire, senior v-p for BBD, will assume direct responsibility for Random’s mass market paperback list. Shannon remains publisher of Del Rey/Spectra.

Job Moves: April 15, 2011

Emily D’Amour Pardo, executive director of the Boston Book Festival, is leaving to join her family’s business. Norah Piehl, formerly of University of Illinois Press and MIT Press, has been named director of communications and development.

Job Moves: April 14, 2011

Erica White has been promoted to manager of business analysis at Simon & Schuster. White joined the company in 2005 as a reporting analyst and in 2008 was promoted to senior business intelligence analyst.

Job Moves: April 13, 2011

Edwards Brothers has hired Barb Dawson for the newly created position of Chief Information Officer. The hire is part of the company’s initiative Connecting with EB, which is focused on automating transactions, such as order entry, billing, ship notifications, and tracking, through online ordering tools such as EB’s One Touch Reprint solution.

Schoenwald Succeeds Hyatt at Nelson

Thomas Nelson has announced that chairman and CEO Michael Hyatt has stepped down as CEO, a position he has held for nearly six years. Mark Schoenwald, who had been president and COO, will succeed Hyatt as CEO, in charge of Nelson's day-to-day operations, while Hyatt will continue to serve as chairman of the board.

Job Moves: April 11, 2011

Alistair Burtenshaw has been appointed to head Reed Exhibitions' Publishing & Book Group, which includes the London Book Fair, Book Expo America, Bienal do Livro Sao Paulo, Tokyo International Book Fair, E-book Japan, and Salon du Livre, Paris.

Boyle Takes Top Post at Rosenthal's Imprint

Aileen Boyle has been hired as associate publisher at David Rosenthal's Penguin imprint. Boyle, who will start on July 1, became a publishing consultant after leaving her post as v-p and associate publisher of Simon & Schuster's flagship imprint, which Rosenthal ran before being replaced by Jonathan Karp.

Menasha Ridge Press Co-Founder Holly Wallace Dies

Holly Wallace, a co-founder of Menasha Ridge Press, died April 1. She was 56. The cause was complications following abdominal surgery.

Job Moves: April 7, 2011

Digital publisher Aptara, which serves the K-12 and university markets, has hired Robin Blakely as its v-p of education. Blakely was most recently with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and has more than 25 years of editorial and publishing experience.

Comings and Goings: April 6, 2011

If you've been laid off recently, left your job or landed a new position and would like to pass along your contact information to others in the business, send details to pwletters@publishersweekly.com. Please include your full name and former title/company.

Andy Ladenheim-Gil, former executive editor for Alpha Books/Penguin, can now be reached at rladenheim.gil@gmail.com.