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.

Edna Carol Farley Dies at 74

Edna Carol Farley, a longtime publicist, died on Monday. She was 74. Farley grew up in Westchester and worked as a reporter for a string of local newspapers before joining the former Warner book division as a publicist in 1971. After leaving the job to care for her children, Farley started handling assignments from home at the request of her boss.

Job Moves: April 6, 2011

Lauren Spiegel has been promoted to editor at Touchstone. Spiegel started at the imprint as an editorial assistant in 2006. She was promoted to assistant editor in 2008, not long after she acquired her first book, 72 Things Younger Than John McCain, and in August 2010 she was promoted to associate editor.

Comings and Goings: April 5, 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.

Debra Woodward, formerly a sales representative with Watson & Woodward where she worked for 13 years, can now be reached at woodwardda@aol.com.

Allan Wolfe Dies

Former East Coast regional sales manager for Penguin, Allan Wolfe, died on April 2. Wolfe started with New American Library in 1975 and continued to work in sales after the company merged with Penguin Group USA in 1986.

Job Moves: April 5, 2011

Philip Budnick has been named editorial director for Plume. Budnick has a part of the Penguin sales team for 17 years; he was most recently national account sales manager and worked on titles from Viking, Dutton, Gotham, Portfolio, and Sentinel.