Hachette Book Group Names Ben Sevier CEO

Effective January 1, 2027, Ben Sevier becomes CEO of Hachette Book Group, and Richard Kitson becomes president and chief operating officer for global English.

Who will lead Hachette Book Group in 2027? Ben Sevier. On September 29, 2026, in New York, Hachette Book Group announced that, effective January 1, 2027, Sevier becomes CEO, Hachette Book Group, and Richard Kitson becomes President and Chief Operating Officer, Global English Language, Hachette. Both will continue to report to David Shelley. The house posted the news as Hachette Book Group Announces Key Promotions.

Shelley moves to executive chair

As of January 1, 2027, Shelley becomes Executive Chair of Hachette UK and Hachette Book Group. He also becomes global advisor to the CEO and Deputy CEO of Hachette Livre, Arnaud Lagardère and Jean-Christophe Thiery, working on new markets, global synergies, and M&A, among other topics. He will move back to the United Kingdom and be based between the offices in London, New York, Madrid, and Paris. At Hachette UK, Katie Espiner has been promoted to CEO and Charlie King to Deputy CEO, both beginning January 1, 2027. Lagardère, chairman and chief executive officer of Hachette Livre, said the group is "delighted to work even more closely with David in his new roles."

The U.S. record in the announcement

In the past two years, Hachette Book Group advanced to become the third-biggest trade publisher in the United States for the first time in 12 years, delivering an 18% increase in revenues from 2023 to 2025. Shelley said the company is in its third successive year of significant revenue growth, and that in 2025 it "regained the #3 spot in the US for our wholly owned publishing for the first time in 12 years." He said that under Sevier's "peerless and author-focused leadership, our publishing will hit new heights." He also said the new structure will make the U.K. and the U.S. more operationally aligned under Kitson, including growth plans for client sales and distribution services.

Canada, and the people jobs

Sally Kim, president and publisher of Little, Brown and Company, expands her role to establish a new Hachette Book Group publishing program in Canada. The program aims to discover and publish Canadian writers who will benefit from a bespoke local publication backed by Hachette.

Carrie Bloxson, chief people officer at Hachette Book Group, becomes Chief Strategy and Inclusion Officer across both Hachette Book Group and Hachette UK, in addition to leading human resources, people, talent, and culture. Lisa Waterman, chief people officer at Hachette UK, expands as a senior advisor to the U.S. human resources team and will work closely with Bloxson. Shelley said those promotions will align the two businesses further on cultural strategy, inclusion, and people management.

Who Sevier is now

Sevier is currently president of the Grand Central Publishing Group and publisher of Grand Central. He directs twenty imprints across three business lines: Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Nashville, and Union Square & Co., acquired by Hachette Book Group in 2024. Over the last three years at Grand Central, the division published 122 New York Times bestsellers, including 21 books that reached number one. Sevier said his decade leading those teams "has been equal parts exciting, challenging, and deeply rewarding," and that he expects "a super-charged version of all three" in the next phase. The same day, Hachette Book Group named the successor in that job. Christine Ball will join in November as president and publisher of Grand Central Publishing, including the Hachette Nashville imprints, replacing Sevier following his promotion to CEO.

Why it matters for authors

Authors at Hachette Book Group get a new chief executive on January 1, 2027. Shelley becomes executive chair of Hachette UK and Hachette Book Group and a global advisor at Hachette Livre. The CEO job goes to the current head of Grand Central, and Christine Ball is named to replace him there in November. Sally Kim adds a Canadian publishing program alongside Little, Brown. Richard Kitson takes the operating role across English-language Hachette.

Sources

Hachette Book Group: Hachette Book Group Announces Key Promotions (New York, September 29, 2026)
Hachette Book Group: Christine Ball joins Hachette Book Group as President and Publisher, Grand Central Publishing (New York, September 29, 2026)