In the wake of Debby de Groot’s departure last month, Penguin Canada has hired Yvonne Hunter to be the new director of marketing and publicity. Though Hunter is not new to the industry – she was publicity manager at the Literary Press Group for a time and then went on to become publicity and marketing manager at HarperCollins Canada – her most recent job was with the Ontario Science Centre, where she was tapped to bring in new corporate sponsorships.

According to Penguin Canada president Ed Carson, there were a number of suitable candidates for the position, but Hunter stood out due to her varied background. “And she came highly recommended by quite a wide range of folks – not only other publicists and marketers, but retailers, authors … you name it,” he says. Hunter reported to work on April 24, and spent the ensuing week working with de Groot in order to get up to speed. This week she starts going it alone and will jump headlong into national sales conferences, alongside new national sales director Don Robinson.

“Anytime you bring in new leadership it’s going to change the department,” says Carson. “But it’s hard for me to tell how much things are going to change. We’re probably going to be looking at a variety of new promotional [avenues].” He points to Hunter’s SKYword initiative at HarperCollins – an in-flight book channel created for Air Canada – as an example of the kinds of things he expects her to bring to Penguin in the future.

Along with Hunter and Robinson, Penguin has made a few more additions to its sales and marketing team. Scott Loomer, a former Penguin rep for Southwestern Ontario, has been promoted to Robinson’s old position of national account product manager, which will make him responsible for all Penguin U.S. hardcover imprints. And Tim Carter, currently a category manager at Indigo, has signed on as a national account product manager as well, in charge of all Penguin U.K. imprints. Loomer has already begun in his position, but Carter will probably not begin until the end of May. As Carson explains, “We’re working closely with Indigo to make sure there’s a really good transition for them as well as for us.”

In other personnel news, HarperCollins Canada announced Monday that Leith Hayman is joining the firm on May 29 as sales director, national accounts. She will be responsible for selling all of HarperCollins’ U.S. books. Hayman previously worked as Penguin Canada’s national accounts and international agencies manager.