Mark Rusher leaves Orion

Mark Rusher, group marketing director at Orion, has left the company after 15 years.

Rusher has worked on some of the biggest books Orion has published in that time, including Life, the Keith Richards autobiography, and Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, for which he won Marketing Strategy of the Year prize at the Bookseller Industry Awards in 2014.

In a note to staff, Orion m.d. Katie Espiner said: "After 15 years at Orion, Mark Rusher has made the decision to leave and we have agreed he spend his notice period on garden leave.  We would like to thank Mark for his significant contribution to Orion and Mark, in turn, would like to thank the many friends he has at Orion for making his time here so enjoyable."

Rusher told The Bookseller he felt it was the “right time to move on” from Orion, after several “happy” years working with some “brilliant authors” and meeting some “amazing people”.

He added: “At the moment I have no plans.”

Orion confirmed that a replacement will be appointed for the group marketing director role.

Rusher can be contacted on markrusher99@gmail.com.