The Globe & Mail reports that Ed Carson, the current president of Penguin Canada, is stepping down in May. His “great friend” David Davidar, who came to the Toronto-based company in early 2004 as publisher after serving as Penguin India president for several years. Under the new regime, will succeed Carson, functioning as both president and publisher.
Carson told the G&M he had been talking “for a while” with senior management of Pearson Canada, parent company of the Penguin Group, about handing over the company’s reins. Although he said he had no immediate job prospects, “it’s a good time to go.” Penguin is “strong and profitable, . . . the strongest we’ve ever been, I think,” he said, while predicting that it would win “publisher of the year” honours this spring at the annual convention of the Canadian Booksellers’ Association. In the meantime, “we’ll see what the marketplace offers up [in the way of employment]. . . . Companies are always looking for ways to innovate.”