Orion hires Pearce as Oliver moves up in string of promotions

Orion has hired Francesca Pearce as senior publicity manager and moved Leanne Oliver up to publicity director in a string of promotions for its team.

Pearce (pictured), who replaces Poppy Stimpson, has now moved to Carmelite House. She left Bonnier, where she was responsible Lily Allen’s My Thoughts Exactly (Blink) campaign as senior publicity manager, in February. Before that she had roles at Pan Macmillan and Michael Joseph, working with authors including Jessie Burton, Anna Raverat, Scarlett Moffatt, Freddie Flintoff and Dynamo.

The restructure sees Oliver stepping up to work closely with communications director Maura Wilding, who joined Orion in April. Oliver started at Orion in 2014 as senior press officer and has steered a number of high-profile campaigns including last year’s PCC-shortlisted work for Ian Rankin’s House of Lies. She has also launched books by “Supervet” Noel Fitzpatrick, Alan Partridge, Joanne Harris, and this week’s highly-anticipated thriller The Chain by Adrian McKinty.

The restructure also sees a number of other key promotions. Deputy publicity director Elizabeth Allen, who has overseen drives for books by Roy Keane, Keith Richards and Henry Marsh, becomes campaigns director and Virginia Woolstencroft, who has set up the Orion on Tour initiative, steps up to head of publicity.

Elsewhere, Alainna Hadjigeorgiou moves up to publicity manager after delivering campaigns for Fanny Blake, Mari Hannah and Ordnance Survey, while Alex Layt becomes senior press officer. Stevie Finegan continues as publicity manager, leading on Gollancz titles.

Kate Moreton also recently joined as press officer from Bloomsbury while Patricia Deveer has arrived as publicity assistant after working with the team during Hachette’s Fresh Chapters internship.

Wilding said: “When I joined in April, I was astounded by the team: all such talented publicists who are delivering strategic, fully integrated and impactful campaigns and who all played integral roles in delivering Orion’s stonking Autumn last year. I am delighted to be able to make these promotions, I feel incredibly proud and lucky to welcome Francesca, Kate and Patricia to the team, and, with this realigned structure, I am confident we will deliver the most creative and dynamic campaigns in the industry for our authors and Orion.”

The news follows promotions for Sarah Benton as the group’s deputy managing director and Anna Valentine as executive publisher of Trapeze, Seven Dials and Orion Spring

Benton said: “I am absolutely delighted with the new structure, new hires and key promotions that Maura has put into place in our publicity team, in such a short space of time since joining us, ensuring it reflects our author and business needs in the very best way. This energised and industry-leading team will ensure publicity sits at the very heart of our publishing, where it belongs.”