Reading in Barcelona’s Park Güell, the Plaza de la Naturaleza., January 9. Image – Getty iStockphoto: Alvaro Bueno
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Internationally Influential Positions
This week, Penguin Random House‘s chief financial officer, Jim Johnston, has notified staffers of two high-level appointments in the global corporate ranks, promotions that can be expected to have significance in the company’s international posture and thus meeting our standard for mention here at Publishing Perspectives. (An informational note on this is below.)
Manuel Sansigre is named deputy chief financial officer.
“As a member of our global executive committee,” Johnston writes, Sansigre “is a trusted adviser across territories and companies.
“He has been involved in every merger and acquisition since he joined Penguin Random House in 2015, and as deputy CFO he will continue to work with his current mergers and acquisitions team members Cara Deedy and Lev Polinsky on acquisition and divestment transactions.”
Jim Johnston
While acting as a financial adviser to Penguin Random House on the Santillana trade business acquisition, Johnston writers, Sansigre “developed a deep interest in book publishing, ultimately leading to a job here.”
He also was interim finance and commercial director in Beijing for Penguin Random House North Asia in 2016 and 2017.
Sansigre holds a degree in law and business administration from Madrid’s Carlos III University and a master’s degree in advanced finance from IE Business School (also in Madrid, founded as Instituto de Empresa), as well as a Master of Science in Business Analytics from the New York University Stern School of Business.
Manuel Sansigre
Johnston has also named Carlos Pérez to vice-president for worldwide reporting and planning.
Previously based in Barcelona as the group controller and head of accounts receivable for Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, Pérez will now be based in New York, reporting to Sansigre.
Pérez will be directly responsible for the company’s international reporting, consolidation, and analysis, Johnston writes, “as well as collaborating with colleagues in our international territories” and the Bertelsmann corporate center in Gütersloh.
Pérez joined Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial in 2017. Johnston points out that he was involved in the company’s “launch of Distrito Manga and Eric Carle in Latin America.
Carlos Pérez
Further, he managed, the integrations of Salamandra, La Campana, Molino, and 20/20 Editora.
Before joining the company, Pérez was the CFO of Ediciones B and worked as an audit team leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Carlos took a degree in business administration from Barcelona’s Pompeu Fabra University and a master’s in financial management from EADA Business School (Escuela de Alta Dirección), also in Barcelona.
Our Criteria on Personnel News
Publishing Perspectives receives myriad announcements almost daily of personnel changes at many companies in many countries in our international coverage range. Unlike a publishing-industry news medium devoted to serving one national market or region, our world-industry reach and focus make it impractical for us to try to carry news of changes in companies the impact of which won’t be internationally felt. Similarly, roles and positions below the top titles—normally C-level positions—are rarely of defining influence at the international scale.
This is why at Publishing Perspectives, we limit our coverage of personnel changes to such top-level figures such as these in dominant and/or market-leading companies because such officers will be likeliest to be in touch with peers in world markets.
More from Publishing Perspectives on Penguin Random House is here, and more on Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial is here.