Quercus Books

Quercus Management Team

Mark Smith: Co-Founder and Chief Executive

Mark founded the company with Wayne Davies in May 2004. He was previously Managing Director of the Custom Publishing division at the Orion Publishing Group. He was appointed in 2001 to derive additional revenues from the extensive backlists and archives of both the Orion and Weidenfeld & Nicolson companies. Before joining Orion, Mark was Head of Business Development at Letts Educational between 1999 and 2001. Mark’s remit at Letts Educational was to increase the exposure of their educational products through non-traditional retailers in the United Kingdom. Prior to this Mark had been Sales and Marketing Manager, MQ Publications Limited and Head of Sales Development, ABC Enterprises Limited, Australia.

Wayne Davies: Co-Founder and Executive Director – Digital

Previously Managing Director of Contract Publishing, Wayne is now responsible for the Company’s e-book publishing, digital marketing, websites, social media and online communities. Before founding Quercus with Mark Smith, Wayne was the Publishing Director for the Custom Publishing Division of the Orion Group. Between 1992 and 1999 he was Head of Consumer Publishing, Letts, before becoming Director of Trade Publishing for Granada Learning Limited after the Granada Media Group purchased Letts. During this time he oversaw a huge increase in Letts’ output, including publishing the UK’s market-leading range of exam-preparation guides and the UK’s best-selling educational CD-ROMS, as well as high-profile tie-ins with Manchester United, Liverpool FC, Arsenal FC and leading examining bodies.

David Potter: Chairman

David is also the Non Executive Chairman of AIM listed Spark Ventures and the Non Executive Chairman of Otus VCT.

He has worked in the finance sector for 35 years holding senior executive positions including Investec Bank UK, where he was Deputy Chairman, Guinness Mahon as Group CEO and previously at CSFB, Samuel Montagu and Midland Bank. David is a Trustee of The UK Friends of The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, Worldwide Volunteering for Young People, Chairman of The National Film and TV School Foundation.

Mike McGrath: Executive Director – Group Sales

Mike oversees all of Quercus’ sales, marketing, rights, co-edition and publicity efforts worldwide. Prior to joining Quercus as Chief Operating Officer in 2007, Mike worked for Candlewick Press, the largest independent children’s book publisher in the United States.

After gaining an honours degree in Finance, Mike joined BSB Dorland (Saatchi and Saatchi) in 1988 before joining Walker Books in 1990. He remained within the Walker Books group thereafter, becoming a Group Board Director in 1998. Mike was appointed Chief Operating Officer for Candlewick Press in the US (a wholly owned subsidiary of Walker Books Ltd) in 2002, where he directly managed the sales, marketing, finance, contracts, rights, licensing and IT functions of the business, resulting in rapid and substantial revenue and growth over the period.

Barry Mosheim: Non-Executive Director

The Investment Director for Pentland Group, Barry holds a number of directorships of a wide range of trading and investment companies.

Pentland Group is one of the UK’s leading sports, outdoor and fashion brand management groups and is a major investor in Quercus Publishing.

David North: Executive Director and Publisher

Previously Managing Director of Trade Publishing, David is now responsible for all of Quercus’ publishing activities including all fiction, non-fiction and children’s publishing, plus the Company’s four imprints: MacLehose Press, Jo Fletcher Books, Heron Books and Silver Oak the North American joint venture with Barnes & Noble/Sterling.

David has spent thirty years in trade publishing, working for a number of major publishing houses, including stints at MacMillan and HarperCollins UK – at both companies he served on the main group boards. Prior to joining Quercus he was Managing Director of Pan MacMillan for eight years.

Paul Lenton: Finance Director

Paul is a Chartered Accountant who worked as an Audit Manager with Price Waterhouse before entering the media sector, where he has spent the last 15 years in a variety of senior finance positions. He was most recently part of a small team of senior executives tasked with establishing a new London operation for Creature London – a medium sized US advertising agency. Prior to this, Paul was Finance Director for EMEA at Corbis Images, the international supplier of digital image licensing and rights. He was Divisional Finance Director at Chrysalis Book Group and Chrysalis TV Group, as well as holding senior finance positions at Planet 24 Productions and Warner Village Cinemas. Paul completed his MBA at the University of Warwick Business School in 2008 and became ACA accredited in 1987.

Caroline Proud: Sales Director

Caroline oversees the sales and marketing operations. She was formerly Managing Director of Conran Octopus, Sales Director of Profile Books and UK Group Sales Director at Simon & Schuster.

Jon Riley: Editor-in-Chief

Jon Riley is responsible for the trade fiction list, covering both fiction and non-fiction. He was formerly Editor in Chief at Faber and Faber, where he worked with such authors as Andrew O’Hagan, John Lanchester, David Peace, Jane Smiley, Sebastian Barry and Michael Frayn.

QuercusBooks: Congratulations to Colin Cotterill who is 3rd in the Amazon Kindle chart! http://t.co/FNRUdIlt