David Ward to leave Bloomsbury

Bloomsbury's group UK sales director David Ward is to leave the company, having worked there for its entire 30 years.

Ward will leave "for pastures new" at the end of the year.

Ward was one of Bloomsbury's first employees when he joined, from Penguin, as sales representative for the North of England in 1987, before the company had yet published a book. Later as Bloomsbury's first key account manager, Ward was responsible for opening up accounts with supermarkets and Amazon as well as handling all the wholesale businesses in the UK. He became UK sales director in 1998, served as an executive director on the PLC Board from 2002 to 2004, and subsequently was made group UK sales director.
 
“After 30 amazing years at Bloomsbury the time has come to do something else," Ward said. "I am very proud of my achievements here. After travelling around the North and Scotland establishing Bloomsbury as a new independent literary force, I was thrilled to become a part of the head office team that took J K Rowling out to the trade. It was a career defining experience to take Harry Potter from zero to hero and one which I will never forget. I have had the pleasure of working with and meeting such diverse authors as Margaret Atwood, Linda McCartney, Joanna Trollope, Michael Ondaatje, Anthony Bourdain, Sophie Dahl and Khaled Hosseini to name but a few and the list goes on and on. I have worked with some wonderful people and thank everyone who has worked with me and helped Bloomsbury become what it is today. I wish the company continued success.“      
 
Kathleen Farrar, managing director of group sales and marketing, said: "David will be very much missed by all, not only for his jovial nature but his love of publishing and customer relationships. We wish him all the best in his new endeavours."

Bloomsbury has yet to confirm how Ward's role will be handled following his departure.