Sad news: after more than 40 years in book publishing, our good friend John Bohman has decided to take Penguin Random House's voluntary separation offer and will retire as senior v-p, sales & customer operations, effective December 15.
 |
|
| John Bohman | |
After working at a bookstore and a small publisher, Bohman joined Ingram in 1990, where he rose to v-p of sales in 1998. In 2000, he moved to retailer Crown Books. A year later, he joined Random House in the newly created position of v-p of customer operations. Over the years, his work expanded to include the improvement of the physical book supply chain as well as e-books, downloadable audio, print-on-demand, metadata feeds, order technology, POS and inventory reporting, BookScan, and more.
Jaci Updike, PRH's chief revenue officer, said, "From day one, John has understood that one of the best ways we can serve our books and authors is to strengthen our behind-the-scenes systems and processes. Operational issues are often what make the crucial difference to how successful and profitable our retail and wholesale accounts are, and John has built a team that works creatively and brilliantly to develop solutions that speed our books to market and make Penguin Random House a publisher that our partners can trust and count on for operational support and guidance.
"One of John's hallmark strengths is his incredible empathy for our customers point of view. His deep knowledge of customer technology and needs, coupled with his unflagging optimism and strong belief that through collaboration, we can always find a solution, has benefitted countless retailers and wholesalers.
"That empathy, of course, extends to his colleagues. In addition to his outstanding work with operations, John has played a key role in building a culture that embraces change and honors the ideas and contributions of staff across a variety of positions and roles. From brainstorming with colleagues in the early days of the Penguin and Random House merger, to spending time with reps at sales conference tossing around what-if scenarios, to working with staff at the fulfillment centers on myriad improvement projects, John has always been an enthusiastic listener, who leads through building consensus.
"On a personal note, John and I have been close colleagues and good friends for many years now. I've been in deep denial about his upcoming retirement as I depend on him so much. The truth though is that I am thrilled for him and his family. His wonderful wife, Holly, his children, and his grandchildren, deserve to get all the parts of John's time that we have had the benefit of. We will miss him, greatly."
---
In related changes, as of today, senior v-p, sales strategic planning Julie Black will now head the sales & customer operations team. In addition, Jessica Wells has been promoted to v-p, customer operations & strategy, and Thea James has been promoted to v-p, customer operations.
Wells joined the company from HarperCollins in 2012 as senior manager, digital customer operations, handling all operational aspects of e-book customer relationships. In 2016, she moved to physical customer operations as director, customer operations, and in 2020 she was promoted to senior director, customer operations.
James joined the company from Workman in 2017. She is also a successful published author of three books and runs a Hugo Award-winning science fiction fanzine.