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Clays restructure as Kate McFarlan steps down
Book printing company Clays will restructure when strategic director Kate McFarlan steps down in April after 20 years with the company.
Account director Vicky Ellis will become sales director of trade books, and digital sales director Andrew Copley will lead on new business in the role of sales development director, when McFarlan leaves on April 7th. Both Ellis and Copley will report to m.d Paul Hulley.
McFarlan joined the organisation in 1997 from Penguin Books and held various board positions from 2000, becoming m.d nine years ago. She was at the forefront during the “Harry Potter years”, the building of the distribution centre and the first investements in digital technology in 2010. She took up the role of strategic director in 2014.
Hulley said: “In the last three years, under Kate's direction Clays has evolved its service offering to publishers to reflect and support the new retail landscape by providing manufacturing and supply chain solutions, enabling trade and academic publishers to reduce risk and better manage inventory for both bestsellers and deep backlist. Kate has been instrumental in the growth and success of Clays in her 20 years with the business. We would like to thank her for her immense contribution and wish her well with her future endeavours.”
McFarlan told The Bookseller that she had not yet decided on her new role. She said: "I don't have a definite plan of what I will do and would love to continue to work in the industry I have always worked in. But I will continue my time here before I firm up my plans.
"I decided to give myself a new challenge now because 2017 seemed a good time for myself and the business and after 20 years I want a new challenge, I don't want to sink into retirement. I want something else exciting to sink my teeth into."
Last June the company revealed it was investing in its physical book-printing services, naming the decline of e-reader sales, the resurgence of support for print and the success of its new print self-publishing services.
