Quercus Publishing Plc, the award-winning independent publisher in the digital, trade, contract, paperback and children’s sectors, is pleased to announce the appointment to the board of directors of Jane Harris as Executive Director, Group Sales & Marketing, with effect from 3rd January 2013.

Jane has been Sales and Trade Marketing Director of Walker Books for the past six years, and was previously UK Group Sales Director for HarperCollins Publishers. During her career she has worked with high profile and diverse lists containing authors such as Agatha Christie, Bernard Cornwell, Josephine Cox, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkein, Michael Morpurgo, David Beckham and Dr Seuss.

Mark Smith, Chief Executive of Quercus, commented:

“We are thrilled that Jane has chosen to join Quercus to lead our sales and marketing teams at this pivotal point of our development. The Company has been making considerable investments in infrastructure, people and intellectual property over the last two years and with Jane’s deep knowledge of all domestic, international, physical and digital sales channels, and her long standing relationships with the key retail and distribution partners, we see this appointment as fundamental to continuing to deliver exceptional returns to our shareholders. Jane has a wealth of experience, both in adult and in children’s publishing, and her arrival will complete the strengthening of the Board that we have been conducting over the last eighteen months.”

Jane Harris commented:

“I am extremely excited about joining Quercus which is one of the most entrepreneurial publishing houses to emerge in recent times. Their development and investment within the changing world of publishing continues at a rapid pace and the recent announcement to start a publishing operation in the US market shows their commitment to enhancing the profile of their authors and building a global publishing programme. The opportunity to return to adult publishing and yet still be able to draw on my extensive knowledge gained from children’s publishing at Walker has provided me with a wonderful new challenge”