Hachette Book Group Announces Key Promotions

New York, NY (September 29, 2026) — Hachette Book Group (HBG) today announced the promotion effective January 1, 2027, of Ben Sevier to CEO, Hachette Book Group, and Richard Kitson to President & Chief Operating Officer, Global English Language, Hachette. Sevier and Kitson will continue to report into David Shelley who as of January 1, 2027, will become Executive Chair of Hachette UK and Hachette Book Group, alongside a new role as global advisor to the CEO and Deputy CEO of Hachette Livre (Arnaud Lagardère and Jean-Christophe Thiery), working on new markets, global synergies, and M&A, amongst other topics.

In the past two years, HBG advanced to become the third-biggest trade publisher in the US for the first time in 12 years, delivering an 18% increase in revenues from 2023-2025. Beyond financial growth, Shelley supported the creation and expansion of “Changing the Story,” HBG’s company-wide commitment to building a more inclusive workplace and publishing program. HBG recently held its second annual Changing the Story Festival highlighting inclusion as a driver of publishing success.

Arnaud Lagardère, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hachette Livre, said: “We are delighted to work even more closely with David in his new roles. Bolstered by the exceptional success of our English-language divisions in recent years, we are counting on his key role to expand international collaboration across the Group, share our expertise, and develop new synergies that help achieve our ambitions for growth.”

Sally Kim, President and Publisher of Little, Brown and Company, will see her role expand substantially to include the establishment of a new HBG publishing program in Canada, aiming to discover and publish exciting Canadian writers who will benefit from a bespoke local publication backed by the global power of Hachette.

Carrie Bloxson, Chief People Officer at Hachette Book Group, takes on an elevated role as Chief Strategy and Inclusion Officer across both HBG and HUK in addition to her existing role leading human resources, people, talent, and culture. Lisa Waterman, Chief People Officer at Hachette UK, will also expand her remit, serving as a senior advisor to the US HR team and working closely with Bloxson.

Shelley said, “We have exceptional talent at HBG and with these moves we will continue to place our authors at the center of all we do and to help them find more readers for their work.” He continued, “We are in our third successive year of significant revenue growth, and in 2025 regained the #3 spot in the US for our wholly owned publishing for the first time in 12 years. I believe under Ben’s peerless and author-focused leadership, our publishing will hit new heights. I am also excited about our move into the Canadian market led by Sally, and I know this will help us to serve Canadian readers even better. This evolution of the management structure will also allow us to become even more operationally aligned across the UK and the US under Richard’s leadership and will help us further our growth plans for client sales and distribution services. And with Carrie and Lisa’s promotions, the two businesses will become even more aligned in terms of cultural strategy and inclusion, and people management. In turn, I’m hugely looking forward to spending more time with the wider Hachette Livre Group. Hachette publishes in three of the world’s most widely spoken languages–French, English, and Spanish–and I’m grateful to Arnaud and Jean-Christophe for the opportunity to work with them and the wider Hachette Livre team to expand our readership in existing markets and to open up new markets.”

As part of the new role, Shelley will move back to the UK and be based between Hachette’s offices in London, New York, Madrid, and Paris. At Hachette UK, Katie Espiner has been promoted to CEO, and Charlie King to Deputy CEO, both roles beginning on January 1, 2027.

Sevier said, “My decade leading the spectacularly talented teams across the Grand Central Publishing Group has been equal parts exciting, challenging, and deeply rewarding, and I expect a super-charged version of all three in this next phase of our company and our industry. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to continue my partnerships with David, Richard, Carrie, and the HBG and global executive teams, and to support and learn from our diverse publishing groups and our dynamic central teams here in the US as we grow our authors’ sales and make Hachette the destination publisher for top talent across our author, staff, and client rosters.”

Note to Editors:

Ben Sevier is currently President of the Grand Central Publishing Group and directs all publishing activities for a collection of twenty imprints across three business lines, including Grand Central Publishing, where he is also Publisher, as well as Hachette Nashville and Union Square & Co, acquired by HBG in 2024. Over just the last three years at Grand Central, the division has published 122 New York Times bestsellers across all categories of fiction and nonfiction, including 21 books that have landed in the #1 position. Sevier’s nearly thirty years in publishing has included collaboration with many bestselling and award-winning novelists including David Baldacci, Sandra Brown, Harlan Coben, Patricia Cornwell, Lisa Gardner, Thomas Harris, Callie Hart, Colleen Hoover, Abby Jimenez, Min Jin Lee, Kennedy Ryan, Nicholas Sparks, Jonathan Tropper, Scott Turow, Mo Willems, Tia Williams, and Reese Witherspoon, as well as nonfiction authors such as Nate Bargatze, Drew Barrymore, Carleigh Bodrug, Sean Carroll, Connie Chung, Sally Field, Flea, Colin Kaepernick, Daniel Levitin, Dr. William Li, Admiral William McRaven, Nick Offerman, Navy SEAL Mark Owen, Medal of Honor Recipient Clinton Romesha, Tom Segura, Brooke Shields, and George Stephanopoulos, among many others.

About Hachette Book Group:

Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a leading U.S. general-interest book publisher made up of dozens of esteemed imprints within the publishing groups Basic Books Group, Grand Central Publishing Group, Hachette Audio, Little, Brown and Company, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Orbit; Workman Publishing; and Running Press Group. We also provide custom distribution, fulfillment, and sales services to several publishing companies. Our books and authors have received the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Caldecott Medal, Newbery Medal, Booker Prize, Nobel Peace Prize, James Beard Award, and other major honors. We are committed to diversity in our company and our publishing programs, and to fostering a culture of inclusion for all our employees and authors. We are proud to be part of Hachette Livre, the world’s third-largest trade and educational publisher.

Visit hachettebookgroup.com to learn more about HBG imprints. For updated news follow HBG on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Threads, TikTok, X.com, Snapchat, and YouTube.

Press Contact: Gabrielle Gambrell, Chief Communications Officer, Hachette Book Group

gabrielle.gambrell@hbgusa.com

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