Tag: mark schoenwald

Company names Doug Lockhart, SVP Sales and Centralized Marketing

(Nashville, Tenn.) July 8, 2021—HarperCollins Christian Publishing today announced its plan to join sales and centralized marketing operations under a unified leadership structure that better positions its retail partners to capitalize on the company’s best-in-class marketing resources. Doug Lockhart will lead this strategy for the company as senior v-p Sales and Centralized Marketing.

“The dramatic increase in online purchases over the last year has spurred brick-and-mortar and online retailers to invest heavily in digital marketing for their own tech platforms,” said president and CEO of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Mark Schoenwald. “This has strengthened people’s dependency on online shopping resources which creates an opportunity for our company to increase cross-functional collaboration within the digital marketing and retail merchandising space.”

In his expanded role, Lockhart will integrate marketing expertise more robustly into the company’s retail partner strategy for both the Christian division and HarperCollins Focus.

“Selling books has always been dependent on great marketing,” said Lockhart. “However, discovering new books and authors now almost always includes an overabundance of online resources. We are going to focus on sharing information between teams to improve the customer journey experience. We have developed an industry leading marketing operations team with expertise in analytics, metadata, SEO, social media, research, website development and email marketing. These teams will work together to maximize our author’s exposure at retail.”

Lockhart is an industry veteran with more than 11 years with the company. Most recently, serving as senior v-p of Marketing and Business Partnerships, Lockhart identified opportunities to expand the company’s reach in new and emerging markets, including the stewardship of the company’s co-publication and co-distribution partnership with Urban Ministries, Inc. Before joining Zondervan in 2002, he spent ten years building and leading a sales organization for a Johnson & Johnson company. He has led at an executive level for 18 years including six years as the president and CEO of Biblica. Lockhart rejoined HCCP in 2014 and has served in several leadership roles where consumer purchasing behavior and market trends were aligned with business strategy.

Schoenwald continued, “Doug is a well-rounded executive leader, with great relationships across the industry. He is one of the original architects for our centralized marketing operations and has since positioned talented leaders to grow our expertise in this rapidly changing discipline. As we seek to aggressively acquire new voices and publish life-changing content, this new alignment will be critical in our success.”

Contact:   Casey Harrell

                 VP, Corporate Communications

                 tel:   615.902.1109

                 web: [email protected]

Michael Aulisio appointed VP of Marketing

(Nashville, Tenn.) November 12, 2019—Today it was announced that Laura Minchew has been appointed to senior vice president, Children’s and Gift Group publisher for HarperCollins Christian Publishing (HCCP) and HarperCollins Focus (HC Focus). In her expanded role, Minchew will be responsible for the overall strategy for all children’s and gift books for both companies, a member of the executive leadership team, and reporting directly to the president and CEO of HCCP and HC Focus, Mark Schoenwald.

In this new role, Minchew will be leading the direction for Tommy Nelson, Zonderkidz, Thomas Nelson Gift and Zondervan Gift publishing as well as Blink YA books and launching the strategy and publishing program for children’s and gift products under HarperCollins Focus.

Under this expanded structure the companies will share best practices in marketing, editorial, design, and publishing operations on books that specialize in children’s and gift book products, while continuing to maintain the uniqueness of each consumer facing publishing imprint.   This approach optimizes expertise around complementary products and sets a strong foundation for creating children’s and gift products for the general market through HarperCollins Focus.

Minchew is a publishing veteran with more than thirty years in the industry. For the past seven years, she has led the Specialty Publishing division for HarperCollins Christian Publishing which includes the Tommy Nelson, Thomas Nelson Gift, and Zondervan Gift imprints. Under her leadership the company has published titles such as Jesus Calling by Sarah Young with sales of more than 30 million units, in addition to children’s and gift books with Max Lucado, Billy Graham, Joanna Gaines, Kathie Lee Gifford, Chris Tomlin, Emily Ley, Lysa TerKeurst, Bob and Lindsey Goff, amongst others.

Schoenwald commented, “Laura has a keen sense for what readers are searching for in terms of quality, content, and inspiration. The children’s and gift group publisher model will bring better awareness and positive collaboration between similar business operations, while continuing to create focus around the individual brands.”

“Our business is committed to inspirational children’s and gift publishing,” said Minchew. “We are investing in resources and working together to navigate the best approach to create a center of excellence that enables us to grow in a changing market. We will leverage our strengths to attract and support leading authors, illustrators and create new brands. Our future is bright, and I am extremely honored to have this opportunity.”

In addition, Michael Aulisio, former vice president of marketing for Tommy Nelson and Gift books for HarperCollins Christian Publishing, will become the vice president of marketing for the children’s and gift group of HarperCollins Christian Publishing and HarperCollins Focus, where he will set and oversee the execution of marketing across the children’s and gift divisions.

HarperCollins Christian Publishing is the world’s leading Christian publisher and comprises both Thomas Nelson and Zondervan publishing groups, in addition to Olive Tree Bible Software.  The Company produces bestselling Bibles, inspirational books, academic resources, curriculum, audio and digital content for the Christian market space.  Also home to BibleGateway.com, the world’s largest Christian website, and FaithGateway.com, an online community dedicated to helping people grow in their faith. HarperCollins Christian Publishing is headquartered in Nashville, TN with additional offices in the U.S. and Mexico.  For more information visit www.HarperCollinsChristian.com.

HarperCollins Focus, LLC. owns and operates a collection of publishing imprints, that enlighten and empower readers to transform their hearts and minds, connecting through story, advice, mentorship and community. The company is based in Nashville, TN. For more information, visit www.HarperCollinsFocus.com.

Nashville, Tenn. (September 30, 2019)—HarperCollins Christian Publishing and HarperCollins Focus today announced that Don Jacobson will lead the organizations’ book publishing programs as senior v-p and group publisher.  Joining the organization on October 7, Jacobson will be based in Nashville, Tenn., report to Mark Schoenwald, president and CEO, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, and will serve on the company’s executive leadership team.

In this role, Jacobson will be responsible for the strategy and direction for trade books and curriculum publishing for Thomas Nelson and Zondervan. In addition, Jacobson will oversee HarperCollins Focus’ publishing strategy and its expansion in the general market.  He will work with all divisions to meet goals, develop new business initiatives, and manage relationships with key authors, retailers, distributors, and staff.

Jacobson is a 35-year publishing industry veteran, with experience in owning and operating publishing companies, as well as representing authors as a literary agent. In 1992, Jacobson bought Multnomah Press which experienced substantial growth and employed more than 140 people eventually selling to Random House.  Jacobson then founded D.C. Jacobson and Associates, a literary management agency that represents authors such as Sarah Mae, Joel Manby, Jamie Ivy, Jess Connolly, and Myquillyn Smith.

“I’ve known of Don and his entrepreneurial approach to our industry for many years,” said Mark Schoenwald.  “He’s been successful in many different areas of the industry, from acquisitions to growing and selling a publishing company to helping launch the careers of well-known and admired authors. We’re excited for Don to join our team and lead this next chapter of our company’s story.  We believe his deep experience, leadership, and strategic thinking will be a great addition to our organization.”

“I cannot think of a more rewarding opportunity than to be part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing and HarperCollins Focus and the direction these companies are taking content creation in the inspirational space,” said Jacobson. “I am looking forward to working for a new company and using my industry knowledge and experience to be part of a great leadership team.  Because I have known and respected many of the leadership for many years, it almost feels like coming home.”

About HarperCollins Christian Publishing

The world’s leading Christian publisher, HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., comprises the Thomas Nelson and Zondervan publishing groups, Olive Tree Bible Software, BibleGateway.com, FaithGateway.com and ChurchSource.com.  The company produces bestselling Bibles inspirational books, academic resources, curriculum, audio and other digital content for the Christian market space.  HarperCollins Christian Publishing is headquartered in Nashville, TN with additional offices in the U.S. and Mexico.  For more information visit www.HarperCollinsChristian.com.

About HarperCollins Focus

HarperCollins Focus owns and operates a collection of publishing imprints that enlighten and empower readers to transform their hearts and minds, connecting through story, advice, mentorship, and community.  The company is based in Nashville, TN.  For more information, visit www.HarperCollinsFocus.com.

Andrea Fleck-Nisbet named vice president and publisher

(Nashville, Tenn.) August 6,2019—HarperCollins Focus today announced the launch of a new nonfiction imprint, Harper Horizon.

Harper Horizon will publish content that encourages readers to live life by embracing values such as: integrity, optimism, patriotism, family-values, community, respect, sacrifice, creativity, hard work, wisdom and inspiration.  Harper Horizon will be relevant to today’s culture by offering books with rich stories and teachings through memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, lifestyle topics, motivational advice and self-help.

Andrea Fleck-Nisbet, former director of Content Acquisitions at Ingram Content Group, has been named vice president and publisher of Harper Horizon. In her previous role, she was responsible for helping over 10,000 publishers reach readers worldwide by providing various publishing services and access to distribution channels. Prior to Ingram, Fleck-Nisbet was with Workman Publishing in New York for fifteen years, where she held various executive level director and management roles.

As vice president and publisher for Harper Horizon, Fleck-Nisbet will lead the acquisition of author projects and hire a team to support editorial, marketing and distribution of the imprint’s titles.  Harper Horizon is scheduled to release its first titles in the spring of 2020 and plans to release 15-20 new titles each year.

In speaking about the mission of the imprint, Fleck-Nisbet said: “At this point of social inflection, readers are hungry for stories and information that speak to the fundamental principles that unite and drive us: family, work, self-discovery and community. I am eager to put books into the hands of readers that will inspire, entertain and encourage them to fully realize their potential. Harper Horizon is well-positioned from a cultural and geographic perspective to do just that.”

Mark Schoenwald, president and CEO of HarperCollins Christian Publishing and HarperCollins Focus, commented, “Being based in Nashville, our editorial and creative teams have a unique perspective relative to the values and motivations of America’s core. We see opportunity in the general market to provide content that helps our readers better understand the world around them.  I’m impressed with Andrea’s career and experience and know her leadership will help drive the growth of Harper Horizon and our relationships with authors and agents.”

In 2018, HarperCollins Focus was established in Nashville, Tennessee to publish books for the general market that inform, educate, motivate and inspire readers to lead lives of significance and purpose. In addition to the newly-launched Harper Horizon, HarperCollins Focus includes HarperCollins Leadership, AMACOM and Blink young adult books in its portfolio.

HarperCollins Focus shares its corporate office and operational support with the HarperCollins Christian Publishing division, however, it operates as a separate entity.

About HarperCollins Focus: HarperCollins Focus, LLC owns and operates a collection of publishing imprints, that enlighten and empower readers to transform their hearts and minds, connecting through story, advice, mentorship and community. The company is based in Nashville, TN.