Hudson joins Bloomsbury to head consumer publishing division

Industry veteran Ian Hudson has joined Bloomsbury as m.d. of the consumer publishing division and as executive director on the Bloomsbury executive committee.

In the role, Hudson will continue to grow the adult and children’s publishing division, and further develop growth strategy, the publisher said. Based in London and reporting to c.e.o. Nigel Newton, Hudson's role will be four days a week, which he will combine with his non-executive directorship of Which?

The departure of previous consumer publishing m.d. Emma Hopkin was announced in December.

Commenting on Hudson's appointment, Newton said: “I am absolutely delighted Ian is joining us. His collaborative working style and wide-ranging industry experience will help us with our ambitious growth plans, supporting our great team of publishers."

Hudson's most recent role was as c.e.o. of DK, a post he left in spring of last year.

After beginning his career at magazine publisher Marshall Cavendish, Hudson joined Random House in 1992 and went on to hold the role of group commercial director before becoming m.d. of Random House Children’s Books.

With the merger of Random House and Transworld in 1998, Hudson became group m.d. and chairman of TBS Distribution and joined the Random House Global Board. He was a member of the Bertelsmann team which negotiated the Penguin Random House merger in 2012/13. Post-merger, he sat on the global executive committee of Penguin Random House and was appointed to the roles of c.e.o. of Penguin Random House International and deputy c.e.o. of Penguin Random House UK.

Once the integration of the two companies was completed, Hudson was appointed c.e.o. of DK.

He was a member of the supervisory board of Bertelsmann for 12 years, is a former president of the UK Publishers Association and has been a non-executive director of Which? for five years.

He said: “I am thrilled to be joining Bloomsbury, which I regard as one of the finest publishers in the industry globally, and to be working with Nigel Newton who I have long admired. I’m particularly looking forward to supporting my new colleagues to build on Bloomsbury’s incredible success, deliver its growth ambitions and to do the very best for each and every one of our authors and their books.”