ABA Restructures Senior Staff Positions

The American Booksellers Association has restructured its senior staff. ABA Chief Executive Officer Avin Mark Domnitz announced the changes, including several promotions, effective immediately.

"ABA is engaged in many intensive programs to support our members, from scanning the trade environments to 'shop local' initiatives. We will become even more so in the next year with ambitious education and marketing plans. The fine-tuning of our staff -- which largely reflects the role each already plays -- will enable ABA to effectively meet the challenges in all of these areas moving forward," said Domnitz.

Len Vlahos and Meg Zelickson Smith have been elevated to the positions of Chief Program Officer and Chief Marketing Officer, respectively. A 15-year ABA veteran and former bookseller, Vlahos will continue to have overall responsibility for the association's education program for which he has developed the ABA Winter Institute and other education components. He will also pursue strategic business opportunities for the association. Vlahos has been the director of ABA's e-commerce website, BookSense.com, since its inception, and will continue to oversee its general operations. Day-to-day direction of that program will now become the responsibility of Ricky Leung, senior technical lead for the web team during the last five years.

Smith will be responsible for overseeing strategy and implementation of all ABA marketing initiatives, as well as press relations. She will also continue to oversee the independent bookstore bestseller list. Smith has been with ABA since 1999, first as a business development consultant for BookSense.com and most recently as Director of Membership Marketing, where she initiated the expansion and revitalization of various member services. Smith previously practiced entertainment law in New York City, and switched to marketing while at Yoyodyne Entertainment.

ABA senior staff also includes Dan Cullen, who was named Senior Director of Editorial Content, and Mark Nichols, whose title becomes Senior Director of Publisher Initiatives. Cullen, who has been with the association since 1986, directs all ABA information efforts, including Bookselling This Week and BookWeb.org, and is the editor-in-chief of the Book Sense Picks, the monthly independent bookseller recommendations. Nichols, who is the liaison between ABA and the publishing community, directs the association's Book Sense publisher partner program and other publisher-sponsored ABA initiatives. Also rising to the senior director level is Jeff Wexler, who will now be Senior IT Director, overseeing the information and technology services department. He was previously IT Director.

Jill Perlstein refines her role with ABA and becomes Director of Member Services. Perlstein will continue to manage the Book Sense gift card program and other ABA member programs, and will also develop customer relations within the association. And Kristen Gilligan's title changes to Director of Meetings and Events, to better reflect her day-to-day responsibilities.

ABA senior staff reports directly to Domnitz or to ABA Chief Operating Officer Oren Teicher.