Tyndale House Publishers Corporate Publicist Mavis Sanders is retiring at the end of October after 40 years in publishing.

“With gratitude to God for His faithfulness, I have chosen to retire from Tyndale House Publishers at the end of October,” she said in announcing her retirement. “What a privilege I have had in a career that has spanned four decades—as an editor for 10 years, followed by 30 years in public relations. I am grateful for the opportunities I was given to work with numerous organizations, authors, retailers and media. In 1997, the door opened for me to serve at Tyndale House. I am grateful to our president, Mark Taylor, and other Tyndale associates, including our PR team led by Todd Starowitz, senior public relations manager.”

In her retirement, Sanders said she expects to spend time with her seven siblings and extended family, travel, engage in local ministry opportunities and “read a few more books!”

For nearly 30 years, Ball she led successful fiction lines for Tyndale House Publishers, Multnomah Books, Zondervan and, most recently, for B&H Publishing Group. She is credited for discovering several best-selling novelists, including Francine Rivers, Karen Kingsbury, Sharon Ewell Foster and Liz Curtis Higgs.

An award-winning novelist and speaker, Ball will work out of her office in Oregon, where she lives.

With 17 years of experience in sales management, Hofmann joined Nelson in 2005—serving most recently as senior vice president of general market and international sales, where she led the division to unprecedented sales growth.

"We are very committed to growing our live-events business," said Thomas Nelson President and CEO Mark Schoenwald. "Sally is a results oriented leader with a proven track record."

Knight brings nearly 30 years of experience in both the publishing and music industries. He joined Nelson in 2007 as vice president of independent retail, leading the Christian retail and ministry sales divisions for the last year and a half.

"Throughout his career, Tom has demonstrated the ability to develop strong teams and build alignment around strategic plans," Schoenwald said. "With his hands-on management, he will rally, support and augment each of our publishing sales divisions."
 

"I have known Bill since he was president of Rutledge Hill Press, and I was at Ingram," said Christian Book Services President and CEO Larry Carpenter. "I have always been impressed by his hard work, intelligence and attention to detail. Bill is also a paralegal and has an accounting background. He has handled the production of hundreds of books. That's where we will utilize his skills here at Christian Book Services."

Christian Book Services specializes in assisting authors get their books published through publishers or by self-publishing.

Jennifer Barrow will serve as editor of children and gift books. From 2000-2006, Barrow worked for Multnomah Publishers in Sisters, Ore. Micah Walker has been promoted from administrative assistant to assistant editor. He will be working on a variety of projects with a primary focus on middle-grade fiction.

Jessica Ward will serve as administrative assistant. She has previously worked at Thomas Nelson as a corporate communications intern. Kristen Baird will serve as marketing coordinator for the specialty division. Baird has been an intern at Thomas Nelson for 18 months, serving in the specialty marketing division.

Phillips has "extensive experience with the industry both in the U.S. and overseas, and we are thrilled to promote him to this important position," said STLD President Glenn Bailey.

Phillips—who has been with STLD for the past 12 years working in outside sales, brand management, logistics and business development—has more than 25 years of sales experience, including 23 years in the Christian product industry as well 10 years as a retail store manager.

Meanwhile, Charity Peterson—who has served as a LifeWay Christian Store manager in Winston-Salem, N.C., and Johnson City, Tenn.—has been hired as sales analyst manager, a newly created position. Peterson has "a wealth of retail and outside sales management experience," Phillips said. "We look forward to incorporating her customer service background in her new role with our accounts at STLD."

Rick Regenfuss has also been moved into the newly created position of vice president of merchandising, in which he will oversee the marketing, purchasing and data departments as well as the recently launched print-on-demand service.

"The new executive roles will help us continue to actively develop sales efforts in all areas, and allow for Rick to devote much of his time to developing sales for our new print-on-demand facility," Bailey said.

Weisgarber—who has been with Barbour for a year—handled account management and acquisitions within mass market accounts such as Wal-Mart, Sam's Club and Costco.

Weisgarber "has stepped up to the plate to learn our business," said Barbour Vice President of Sales Bill Westfall. "He does an excellent job researching new accounts as well as digging deeper with existing accounts to create new opportunities for product placement."