Zondervan part company with Matthews
A press release from Zondervan last month announced that the company had decided to ‘eliminate’ its UK Sales and Marketing role based in the UK.
In a communication to the UK trade, Tracy Danz from Zondervan said, “due to the current economic climate, internal changes within Zondervan have been necessary.
It is with regret that I must announce the elimination of our position based in the UK of Senior UK Sales & Marketing Manager. As such, Ian Matthews is no longer employed by Zondervan.” He added that Zondervan was “determined to serve our customers within the United Kingdom well, and will be working closely with our distributor to the Christian market, STL Distribution.
Ian Matthews has been very active in the UK trade over a number of years, not only on behalf of Zondervan, but also as a dedicated CBC Board member. He also edited The European Christian Bookstore Journal in the late 1990’s and was MD of Sojourn, the company which originally owned the Christian Marketplace title.
Matthews told Christian Marketplace, “Obviously I am very disappointed with the decision after spending five great years as part of the Zondervan team. I’ve enjoyed representing the company and developing author relations.” He added that after fifteen years in the Christian retail trade he was now going to take some time out and consider his options going forward.
There is concern in the trade that this move signals a retraction by yet another major US Publisher from the UK market, operating on a more arms-length basis. Phil Groom is just one retailer who has expressed concern about this decision, describing it as “not Zondervan’s finest hour”. He said, “Ian has always been most helpful and it has been a pleasure to work with him and get to know him both professionally and personally.”
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