Send the Light Distribution, the largest Christian distributor in the United States, has announced two significant additions to its sales and marketing team. Longtime Christian publishing sales professional Ed Barber has been appointed church accounts sales manager, while Debra Lyons is the new marketing manager.

Barber's position is a new one, focusing on the growing church supplies and church bookstore market for which Send the Light launched its Premier Partners program last year. Barber spent 27 years with B&H Publishing Group, a division of LifeWay Christian Resources, servicing national wholesale, key retail and independent CBA retail accounts. Prior to that, he worked for Boss Manufacturing Company and Campbell Soup Company.

Baker Publishing Group announced that Mark Rice has been appointed executive director of marketing for Baker Books and Bibles.

Erin Mackenzie has been named Marketing Manager of Multilingual Resources for Concordia Publishing House (CPH). In this role, she will manage the sales and marketing activities for the multilingual product group.

Mackenzie’s primary responsibility will be the creation and implementation of the annual business plan and achievement of sales goals. She will work closely with other members of the multilingual team in the development of new products.

Loren Pawlitz has been named director of e-commerce and communications for Concordia Publishing House (CPH). In this newly created position, Pawlitz will lead a diverse team charged with the creation of videos, websites, digital marketing and social media with the goal to connect customers with the products and services that best meet their mission needs.  Additionally, Pawlitz will oversee the communications vision for the company.

Pawlitz has worked at CPH since 2010, working in sales, marketing and e-commerce.

Elizabeth Pittman has been named manager of public relations for Concordia Publishing House. In this capacity, she will be responsible for managing communications efforts, corporate public relations and author relations.

In addition to her public relations responsibilities, Pittman will continue to manage Concordia Gospel Outreach, a mission effort of Concordia Publishing House that works to share Bible-based books and resources with other mission efforts around the world. She has held his role since joining Concordia Publishing House in 2011.

The United Bible Societies has appointed Nelson Saba to the newly created role of digital publishing strategist, demonstrating its commitment to harnessing digital technology to make the Bible more widely available and accessible.

Saba, a Brazilian, is a pioneer of digital Bible publishing, having begun work in the field in 1996. He created the best-selling Bible software iLumina, which launched in 2002, and 2009’s multimedia Glo Bible, which has moved more than 3 million downloads to date.

Hachette Nashville has hired Patsy Jones as vice president of marketing. Jones will begin her new position Feb. 24.

“As a seasoned retail marketing professional, Patsy brings keen insight and experience from two significant retailers that understand our core markets,” said Rolf Zettersten, senior vice president and publisher for Hachette Nashville.