MANAGEMENT CHANGE AT COOKEMCDERMID AGENCY INC.

Suzanne Brandreth and Ron Eckel join CookeMcDermid Agency Inc. as new shareholders.

Dean Cooke and Sally Harding are pleased to announce dynamic changes at CookeMcDermid. Continuing the development of a plan that has been in place for well over a decade, the company is solidifying succession. The pace of change is dramatic as trade book publishing around the world evolves to face new challenges. In this business it is necessary to look to the future and anticipate transformations to come and it’s important to put into place the leadership appropriate to transformative times, injecting the company with new ideas and fresh approaches.

In a share buy-out, Suzanne Brandreth and Ron Eckel, who have owned and run their own company and have decades of experience in publishing, have purchased the entirety of the ownership stake previously held by Dean Cooke and Sally Harding. They become equal partners with Martha Webb who continues in her ownership and management role. Dean Cooke and Sally Harding will remain with the company, and will continue on-going care for their lists of active clients. They say, “We could not be more proud of these two long-time employees and respected colleagues. This feels like passing the baton to family.”

 In conjunction with Martha Webb, Cooke and Harding have been instrumental in creating new companies, new partnerships and strategic alliances that have resulted in significant growth for the agency as well as establishing its place as a leader in domestic and international publishing.

Webb says, “I will be forever grateful to Dean and Sally, as I remain to Anne McDermid, for their leadership, generosity, and ability to think into the distance—qualities that form the fabric of CMD. I feel lucky that we can count on them in the years to come, and equally lucky to be sharing the helm with my colleagues Ron and Suzanne, whose passion for books and advocacy for our authors are a daily inspiration.”

Eckel says, “I thank Dean and Sally for the years of support and mentorship and look forward to continue learning from them as I step into my new leadership role. I’m so excited to join my friends and colleagues Suzanne, Martha, and the whole CMD team to build on the strength and success of the agency on behalf of all our authors here, and abroad.”

Brandreth says, “I’ve had the extraordinary fortune to work alongside Dean and Sally for decades and they have been, and continue to be, a well of inspiration. As Martha, Ron, and I move into our new roles I’m beyond thrilled to be working with beloved colleagues at the newly expanded CMD whose dedication to authors is unmatched.”

Joining CookeMcDermid in a new international rights department are Hana El Niwairi and Carolyn Buszynski. Each of them quickly, under the auspices of Cooke International, established themselves as top tier rights representatives, chalking up an unprecedented number of sales for a large and varied number of authors, many of whom had never been published in international markets previously.

The new management team and the staff are all excited about the future of CookeMcDermid. Our full and impressive roster of agents includes The McDermid Agency founder Anne McDermid, Rachel Letofsky, Stephanie Sinclair, and Paige Sisley. Their accomplishments in Canada and internationally are too numerous to mention specifically, but each of them distinguishes themselves by placing countless excellent authors with leading editors and publishers, frequently for record-setting advances. This team will continue to set new and more impressive achievements for the agency.

It is also essential to acknowledge the commitment of our unparalleled staff, Stephanie Anderson, Gail Carver, Sarra Francis, Leah Shangrow, and Swadhi Thanabalasingam. The licensing of our clients’ work to publishers and film and television producers is primary amongst our goals, but without the dedicated detail work of tracking and maintaining the business of contracts, payments, international and domestic tax law, marketing, not to mention the dispatching of money to clients, all other efforts are greatly diminished.

 Of course everyone at CookeMcDermid wants to thank the inestimable contributions of each of our outstanding authors as well as our many, many esteemed publishing colleagues around the world. Publishing is not an easy business, but we sincerely feel the people we are privileged to work with make it the best business on the planet.