Diamond and Boom shuffle around VPs of Sales
Playing catch up with some of the personnel moves announced over the last week or so.
Booms has hired or promoted a bunch of folks, including former Diamond Books VP Josh Hayes. 
Eric Harburn has been promoted to Executive Editor. Harburn joined BOOM! Studios in 2010, and during his tenure has been a key player in the development and launch of numerous bestselling and Eisner Award-nominated original series, including Something is Killing the Children and its spinoff House of Slaughter, BRZRKR, We Only Find Them When They’re Dead, Coda, The Many Deaths of Laila Starr, and many more. In addition, House of Slaughter and BRZRKR broke industry sales records for new series, while The Many Deaths of Laila Starr appeared on over a dozen Best of 2021 lists, including Entertainment Weekly and Variety.
Josh Hayes has joined as Vice President of Sales. Hayes joins BOOM! Studios after more than 15 years at Diamond Comics, during which he led the Diamond Book Distributors business segment, managing sales to book market and specialty customers around the world. During that time, Hayes worked on the sales efforts for such book market hits as The Walking Dead, The Boys, Saga, Critical Role, and Pathfinder/Starfinder. He previously led Diamond Book Distributors’ ecommerce business development operation, launching key strategies for managing relationships with Amazon and online retailers including Target, Walmart, and Costco.
Stephanie Lazarski has joined as Director of Operations. A graduate from Cornell University’s Operations Research and Industrial Engineering program, Lazarski comes to BOOM! Studios with two decades of operations and logistics management experience in the apparel and retail sectors. For the last 13 years while at the global apparel retailer H&M, Lazarski oversaw a variety of operational developments and upgrades as H&M expanded its brick-and-mortar and online presence throughout North America. As Expansion Controller for the brand, she led business planning and financial analysis for more than 300 retail stores across three countries, overseeing major growth initiatives that resulted in nine figure revenue gains.
Meanwhile, at diamond have promoted Mike Schimmel to Vice President of Sales – but the regular distribution side of things and not the book division, as I mistakenly wrote earlier.
“Mike is a key part of our success at Diamond and we are thrilled to promote him to this important, leadership position,” said Chuck Parker, President of Diamond Comic Distributors.
Mike joined the company in 1996 as an Outside Sales Representative and over time, advanced through progressively more responsible positions within the Sales department. In each role, Mike demonstrated his ability to contribute greatly to the business by developing unique selling opportunities and building key relationships throughout our industry. Mike’s business acumen, product knowledge, creativity, and leadership coupled with his passion for our industry make him an extremely valuable member of Diamond’s management team.
Elsewhere, Bobby Curnow has departed IDW, where he served as editor for over a decade. He tweeted:
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