Barbara Marcus to Lead Random House Children\'s Books

September 5, 2012, 12:30 pm

By JULIE BOSMAN

Barbara Marcus, the children's publishing veteran who acquired the seven Harry Potter books when she was an executive at Scholastic, has been chosen to lead Random House Children's Books, the company announced on Wednesday.

Ms. Marcus will succeed Chip Gibson, the president and publisher of the division, who has been with Random House for more than 30 years.

In a memo to the staff sent on Wednesday, Markus Dohle, the chairman and chief executive of Random House, called Mr. Gibson “universally loved and respected.”

“Chip feels he has accomplished almost everything he originally set out to do professionally,” Mr. Dohle wrote. “Now, he wants to take an extended break from work.”

< p>Ms. Marcus will take over immediately. She has recently been an adviser to Open Road Integrated Media and Penguin Group USA.

Mr. Dohle approached her for the job, Ms. Marcus said in an interview, and she accepted because the timing made sense, she said.

“It had been seven years since I had left Scholastic, and it seemed the right time for me to rejoin a children's division,” she said. “It's just an interesting time in the publishing business and especially in the children's business with both print and digital working in very interesting ways.”