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Quarto has appointed Marcus Leaver, previously president of Sterling Publishing in the US, to the newly created role of chief operating officer. He will succeed chairman and c.e.o. Laurence Orbach on his retirement in 2013.
Leaver, 41, became president of Barnes & Noble subsidiary Sterling Publishing in January 2008, having joined in 2005 as c.o.o. Before working at Sterling, he had been c.e.o. of the Chrysalis Books Group, and in a number of different general management roles earlier in his career. Orbach welcomed his appointment as "the beginning of generational change at Quarto".
Orbach said: "Marcus Leaver is an outstanding person for this newly created role and brings to it a wealth of experience of book publishing at senior levels on both sides of the Atlantic. The culmination of an extended search process, we came back to where we started, and this appointment heralds the beginning of generational change at Quarto.
"Marcus and I have known each other for many years and I believe will be able to engineer a smooth transition. Marcus will be joining the board of Quarto and, from the start, will be contributing to the strategic direction of the business."
Leaver: "I have known Laurence since my first few weeks in publishing and he has been a great mentor to me over the years. I look forward to working with him and the rest of the board very closely . . . This is a fascinating time in publishing with abundant opportunity and Quarto's global perspective is unique. I look forward to getting started."
Orbach turns 70 in May, and founded the publisher in 1976.