Hachette Book Group (HBG) is excited to announce multiple promotions across its managing editorial, manufacturing, and children's sales teams.
Managing Editorial Team
Rebecca Holland for the Grand Central Group is thrilled to announce the promotion of Stacey Sharp to Senior Production Editor. Stacey has been with Grand Central for more than six years, coming over with extensive previous experience at Harlequin Romance. Stacey expertly shepherds a multitude of varied titles through production from all the imprints at GCP, including complex titles such as the four-color Reflections by acclaimed cinematographer Roger Atkins, multiple editions by Forever bestselling author Kennedy Ryan, as well as titles on the Nashville/Worthy Kids list, such as the bestselling VeggieTales series. Stacey’s enthusiasm for her books, her leadership and training of department colleagues, and her contributions to improving department processes have been welcome and invaluable.
Holland is also delighted to announce the promotion of Jeff Holt to Senior Production Editor. Jeff has been with HBG for twelve years, and he manages a diverse list of titles from all the GCP imprints, working with authors including bestselling authors Ben Mezrich, Steve Berry, Sandra Brown, and Joseph Earl Thomas, and specializing in complex nonfiction titles with extensive notes and photo sections. In addition to his valued insights into Managing Editorial procedures, Jeff sets a high bar when it comes to maintaining standards of grammar and usage.
Ben Allen for the Little, Brown team is pleased to announce Arik Hardin has been promoted to Production Editor. Since joining HBG in October of 2023, Arik has amazed the team with his eagerness, dedication, and warmth and has become a welcome addition to the LB managing editorial group. Even when coworkers tried to start him slow, he quickly outgrew his early projects and began taking on bigger and more complicated titles. In the past year, he has overseen crash titles, titles from the company's biggest authors, and complicated nonfiction and cookbook projects. Recent highlights include Christina Applegate’s You With the Sad Eyes, Jan Saenz’s 200 Monas, and Robin Arzón’s Eat the Hustle. His contributions to the Patterson imprint realignment project and the 2025 managing editorial documentation update have been integral. And this was all while taking on more ambitious knitting projects on his own time.
Allen is also pleased to announce Mike Noon has been promoted to Senior Production Editor. Mike has been with HBG since 2012—minus a brief time “in the wilderness,” as he puts it—and in that time, he has grown into a reliable, knowledgeable, and much-beloved production editor, and Allen is glad he now has a title to reflect that experience. Mike has earned a reputation for taking on some of the most challenging (and most gruesome!) nonfiction titles, and he is the go-to person in the team's group for esoteric trivia. Odds are, if one author doesn’t know a fact, Mike will. Among his career highlights are overseeing the production of Ronan Farrow’s Catch and Kill, Stacy Schiff’s The Revolutiuonary Samula Adams, and Wally Koval’s Accidentally Wes Anderson, and he remains the production editor for James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club series and for repeat authors Nathan Harris, Sam Kean, Joe Lansdale, and Allan Eskens.
Chris Stambaugh for the Union Square team is happy to announce that Kristin Mandaglio has been promoted to Senior Production Editor. Since the very start of Kristin’s tenure with Union Square, she’s taken on many senior PE responsibilities, like carrying a very high title count, training new PEs, and creating the house-style document for endnotes, among many others. She skillfully works on the entire array of Union Square products—adult fiction and nonfiction, games, notecard sets, notepads, planners, journals, and playing cards for UNSQ Gift, as well as UNSQ Kids and YA fiction—and can still manage to take on urgent drop-in titles. She is well-respected and admired across the busy Union Square division.
Jess Riordan for Running Press has announced that Leah Gordon has been promoted to Senior Production Editor. After 14 years at Avalon Travel, Leah joined Running Press in November 2022 as a Production Editor and quickly became an invaluable member of and a leader on the team. She skillfully manages unique and often complicated titles, including those with some of the company's biggest licenses like Harry Potter, Turner Classic Movies, Hasbro, Britney Spears, and Pusheen. Leah is often involved in department-wide initiatives, such as the freelance committee, where she is contributing to work benefiting PEs across the company. She meets challenges head-on with a measured, solution-focused mentality that fellow editors, authors, and colleagues appreciate and value.
Syarlin Syafruddin has been promoted to Associate Production Editor. Syarlin joined Running Press in November 2022 as an Assistant Production Editor working across all RP imprints and countless licenses, and her involvement on the RP Minis list in particular has drastically improved processes and has contributed so much to the imprint’s success. Her innovative thinking, strong organizational skills, and streamlining efforts demonstrate an unmatched owner mentality not only in her individual titles but in the RP Minis list as a whole. Riordan is consistently impressed by her ability to take on new challenges while keeping her long list of titles humming along on time, and looks forward to watching her continue to grow at RP.
Rena Kornbluh for Basic is excited to announce that Michelle Welsh Horst has been promoted to Associate Managing Editor for the Basic Books Group. Michelle started in 2008 as a Production Editor for the Perseus Books Group. In 2012, she became the co-manager of the PE team (along with the also excellent Cisca Schreefel), helping to shape that group into the first-rate team it is today. She was promoted to Senior Manager in 2022 while continuing to work as a PE on many books by the likes of Akhil Reed Amar, Michael Mann, Heather Cox Richardson, Peniel Joseph, Irvin Yalom, George Weigel, and Tara Isabella Burton. During the last year, Michelle has also been an indispensable guide, collaborator, and support to the group’s new managing editor, Kathleen Reed, further demonstrating the leadership and generosity she brings to every role, and she will now report to Kathleen. Her extensive experience, calm and steady nature, and sense of humor made her an ideal candidate for Associate Managing Editor for Basic.
Manufacturing Team
Ruiko Tokunaga is pleased to announce the promotion of Dan Lynch to Publishing Operations Director. Over his 11 years at HBG, Dan has taken on an evolving breadth of responsibilities and consistently delivered at the highest level. He remains one of the industry’s foremost paper procurement managers, his original role, where he guided us through the pandemic and multiple labor strikes without a single interruption to supply. He expanded his duties to oversee bound galley purchasing and spearheaded the development of a POD ordering platform TWICE; once with the original supplier and a second time with the current partner following the original supplier’s announcement that it would be shuttering operations. Since the launch of Hachette’s global carbon-reduction initiative, Dan has taken on the challenging task of compiling carbon-emissions reporting for both the paper bought directly and the paper purchased through the company's printers. His role further expanded to include Vendor Management, onboarding new suppliers and packagers, resolving payment issues, and ensuring ongoing compliance with product safety, environmental, and corporate social responsibility certifications. When EUDR emerged, Dan was confronted with what is believed to be the biggest challenge of his career. While books were made exempt from EUDR compliance (much to his relief), Dan will continue throughout the coming year to work through the detailed requirements to ensure full compliance for the remaining non-book product.
Even before there was a name for Growth Mindset, Dan tackled every change in his role and every challenge he encountered as an opportunity to learn new things and grow his own skillset. Through every acquisition, new regulation, and new initiative, Dan’s logical, steady, and grounded nature allowed him to cut through complexity, assess situations realistically, and pave a sound path forward.
In his new role, Dan will take on a larger leadership position in Production/Manufacturing’s Project Excellence efforts. He will support Tokunaga in assessing the vendor pool, identifying opportunities to leverage buying power through consolidation, and evaluating like products to streamline paper and specifications across imprints.
Shay Brown is beyond chuffed to announce the following, from Reprints Manufacturing: Cameron Rivas has been promoted from Production Associate to Senior Production Associate. Since joining HBG in August 2022, Cameron has brought her fastidious yet affable nature to the Manufacturing team every day. She has grown to manage all of Orbit, Basic Book Group, and Avalon’s backlist, and, throughout 2025, stepped up and expanded her role in managing her own list of Frontlist titles. Cameron has piloted several large-scale cost savings initiatives, which significantly benefited the profit margins, and is an Excel wizard. In this new role, Cameron will assist Brown with the ever-increasing Special Markets editions and help Brown steer their team toward a global implementation process for the Raising Readers program across backlist titles.
Brown additionally shared that Barbara Scanlon has been promoted from Senior Production Associate to Assistant Production Manager. Barbara has adeptly streamlined and effectively managed all of Running Press and BDL backlist with agility and her signature calm composure. Her attention to detail and meticulous record keeping have ensured this high-volume list remains on budget, with fully up-to-date compliance labeling and safety testing (ever-changing!), and delivering on time. Barbara’s imprint responsibilities will grow in this expanded role, and she will take on a direct report in Megan O’Herron. Megan will remain responsible for her current LBYR load and support Barbara primarily with Running Press to deepen her manufacturing knowledge with 4/c work, non-traditional formats/materials, and the intricacies of safety adherence and labeling knowledge, of which Barbara is an expert.
Nyamekye Waliyaya is pleased to share the wonderful news that Maisa Nammari has been promoted to Production Associate. Maisa has consistently demonstrated exceptional ownership mentality, a strong growth mindset, and a natural ability to lead and uplift those around her. Her dedication to the Adult Trade production groups—supporting Grand Central and, most recently, Little Brown—has been outstanding. She continues to take on increasingly complex projects with confidence, care, and creativity.
Beyond her production work, Maisa is a generous mentor and collaborator, always ready to support her colleagues and contribute to a positive team culture. Her leadership as a Co‑Lead of the Employees of Color ERG reflects her commitment to building community across HBG and making space for others to thrive. Her warmth, thoughtful problem‑solving, and meticulous attention to detail make her an invaluable part of the frontlist team.
Children's Sales Team
Allie Stewart has been promoted to National Account Manager. Allie flourished this year, elevating just the right books to produce amazing impacts at her accounts. Highlights of Allie’s success in 2025 include securing monthly picks at both Barnes & Noble (for Immortal Dark) and Books-a-Million (for Bitten). She worked alongside the marketing teams to curate successful Twilight in-store fan events and secured a B&N Book of the Year Finalist spot for There Are No Silly Questions! Allie brings bright energy into every room. She is a thoughtful reader, partner to the company's publishers, and strong advocate for her accounts.
