HarperCollins Reorganizes US Trade Operations — New CEO Liate Stehlik Creates Dedicated Audio and Digital Sales Role
New HarperCollins US Trade CEO and Publisher Liate Stehlik has reorganized the company's sales operations into two distinct groups — divisional sales and channel sales — both reporting to interim president of sales Doug Lockhart. Key promotions include Kelly Roberts to SVP and deputy director of sales, Monica Shah expanding to lead children's divisional sales and national accounts, Stefanie Lindner overseeing all mass merchandise for both divisions, and Marianna Ricciuto appointed to the newly created Director of Online Sales role overseeing audio and digital. Stehlik described the new structure as 'more agile, accountable, and collaborative.'
Analysis
Liate Stehlik's first major structural move as CEO and Publisher of HarperCollins US Trade is a reorganisation that tells you a great deal about where the company believes its revenue growth will come from — and where it has historically been underserved.
The creation of a dedicated Director of Online Sales role with specific responsibility for audio and digital is the most revealing appointment in the restructuring. Marianna Ricciuto's new position did not exist before because, at most large trade publishers, audio and digital sales have historically been managed as extensions of print sales infrastructure rather than as distinct channels requiring dedicated commercial leadership. The implicit acknowledgement in creating this role is that audio and digital now have sufficiently different retail dynamics, customer relationships, and growth trajectories that they warrant their own strategic ownership.
The broader reorganisation — splitting sales into divisional and channel teams — reflects a tension that has existed in trade publishing sales for years. Divisional sales teams understand the publishing programme deeply and can shape go-to-market strategy with editorial intelligence; channel sales teams understand the retail landscape and can execute against specific account opportunities. The problem is that these two functions have often been in conflict, with divisional priorities overriding channel realities or vice versa. By separating them formally and giving each team a clear mandate, Stehlik is betting that the tension can be made productive rather than dysfunctional.
The timing of this reorganisation — coming within weeks of Stehlik's promotion to CEO in February 2026 — is characteristic of a new leader establishing her strategic priorities before the organisation settles into inherited patterns. The previous structure under Brian Murray reflected a different era of trade publishing, one in which print was dominant and digital was supplementary. The new structure reflects a trade publisher that is, at least organisationally, treating audio and digital as first-class commercial channels.