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Thursday 2nd September

Press Release: Moves and Promotions
Random House Group Strengthens Digital Team With Appointment Of Digital Publisher

Posted at 7:19AM Thursday 12 Jun 2008

Former Sony BMG VP Jonathan Davis joins in innovative new role

The Random House Group has appointed former Sony BMG VP of Digital Marketing Jonathan Davis to the new role of Digital Publisher, as part of the Group's ongoing investment in digital. Jonathan will be responsible for initiating and rolling out creative digital publishing projects for the Group's authors, imprints and series brands, across all digital platforms including web and mobile.

Fionnuala Duggan, Director, Random House Group Digital said: "This is an innovative role within the publishing industry. Jonathan will act as a bridge between our publishing teams and the digital department, to identify and develop suitable candidates for creative digital publishing projects across the Group. He has ten years' experience working in the digital arena in the UK and internationally, which will prove invaluable as we look to lead the way in digital publishing and launch our eBook list this July."

Jonathan most recently served as VP Digital Marketing for Sony BMG's Global Marketing team and developed the company's digital business, working with artists such as Will Young and Dido and signing deals with Nokia, O2, 3 Mobile and iTunes. Prior to that Jonathan worked for Warner Brother Records and in 1999 he co-founded, then went on to sell the UK's first digital download business, iCrunch.

Jonathan Davis, Digital Publisher, Random House Group Digital, added: "It's an exciting time to be joining the publishing industry and I'm looking forward to working closely with teams across the Group to identify exciting new opportunities in the digital space."

Jonathan's appointment is the latest in a series of digital initiatives by the Random House Group. These include the launch of the 'browse and search' widget in April 2008; the creation of a digital warehouse which will store every book written by a Random House Group author both past and present; marketing activity on Second Life, MySpace and Bebo; the launch of rbooks.co.uk and the appointment of an eBook Manager and Digital Communications Manager. .

Additionally, the Group has announced that its Audiobooks department will become part of Random House Group Digital, as the Group looks to expand its audio list and build on the increasing popularity of downloadable audiobooks. Audiobooks Commissioning Editor Zoe Howes has been promoted to Senior Editor and will now report into Fionnuala Duggan, Director of Random House Group Digital.