ABA Announces Staff Changes

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Development Officer Mark Nichols to retire following Winter Institute

ABA logoWith the news that Mark Nichols, the American Booksellers Association’s longtime development officer, will be retiring following the 2017 Winter Institute, ABA CEO Oren Teicher has announced a series of staff promotions and changes that will go into effect on January 1, 2017.

In an e-mail to ABA staff, Teicher said: “Some of these changes have been necessitated by our colleague Mark’s decision to retire after the upcoming Winter Institute. And, while we will create opportunities both at Wi12 and after we return from Minneapolis to express our enormous gratitude to Mark for 16 years of loyal and effective service to ABA, I’d be remiss if I didn't acknowledge that the incredible contributions Mark has made will make him very hard to replace. Beyond his work at ABA, Mark has become a friend to all of us, and we will miss him a great deal.”

ABA Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger will oversee several changes related to many of the functions previously managed by Nichols.

Matthew Zoni, who is currently the manager of the ABC Children’s Group at ABA, is being promoted to director of development and publisher relations and will become a member of ABA’s senior staff. “Matt has done a stellar job with our children’s programming these past years, and he has earned our confidence and trust. Matt will take on many of Mark’s previous responsibilities as the primary contact for publishers with regard to all ABA events, as well as supervising the White/Red Box mailings, the annual Celebration of Bookselling lunch, the Galley Room, and other functions,” said Teicher.

Peter Reynolds, who currently serves as project coordinator, will be taking on an expanded role as project manager and will have primary responsibility for the Indie Next Lists and the Indie Bestseller Lists, among other initiatives. Linda Ford will continue in her role as ABA design and production manager with several new responsibilities. “Pete is one of our longest-serving staff members, and he has demonstrated time and time again his ability to keep taking on new tasks,” Teicher said. “As with Pete, Linda has worked for ABA for many, many years, and she is a most valued member of our staff.”

Gen de Botton, who has worked with Nichols and Dallanegra-Sanger as program and development coordinator, is being promoted to ABC group manager, taking on many of the functions previously handled by Zoni. “In a relatively short time, Gen has become an integral part of the ABA staff, and we are pleased she’ll be taking on a new role,” Teicher said.

Unrelated to Nichols’ departure, ABA announced the promotion of David Grogan to director of public policy and advocacy; he was previously senior public policy analyst. “Dave is another long-standing ABA staff member who has successfully advanced our public policy agenda with enormous skill and dedication,” said Teicher. Grogan will join ABA’s senior staff and will continue to be the association’s primary go-to person on public policy matters.

Teicher also announced the creation of a Senior Staff Executive Committee of three — Chief Financial Officer Robyn DesHotel, Senior Program Officer Joy Dallanegra-Sanger, and Chief Strategy Officer Dan Cullen — to which all other ABA other officers and directors will report, a move aimed at improving the association’s current management structure and providing increased guidance for senior staff.