Riti Jagoorie, vice-president of product and marketing with Hachette India will become the company’s MD in January, as founding managing director Thomas Abraham retires. Image: Hachette UK
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Abraham: ‘A Tremendous Journey’
As Hachette UK has announced in recent days the planned retirement of Thomas Abraham, the founding managing director of Hachette India, it also has named vice-president for product and marketing Riti Jagoorie to succeed Abraham in January.
Abraham is being praised for his 18-year record with the company, having moved from Penguin India in 2007 and succeeding in “steering the company from an INR 8-crore company (US$929,000) to its stance as an INR 100 crore house (US$11.6 million). Today, Hachette India’s revenue stream is led by imports but also includes bestselling Indian authors including Sanchin Tendulkar and Roopa Pai.
In India, Abraham has curated a legacy imprint, Yellowbacks, which is to be released in the United States and United Kingdom at the end of this year. “It’s been a tremendous journey, and I’ve loved every moment of it,” Abraham says in a prepared statement, “but after 25 years of running operating companies, it’s time to step back and read something for pleasure beyond P&Ls and balance sheets.
“I’m delighted that I’m able to leave at an all-time high for us, and with the talented team we have, I have no doubt it will continue to go higher. This journey would not have been possible without the unstinting support from Richard Kitson, David Shelley, and Charlie King, the wonderful teams at Hachette India and Hachette UK.
Kitson—Hachette UK’s deputy CEO and Hachette Book Group and Chair of Hachette UK International—says, in part, “Thomas has been the most amazing MD and colleague since he helped found Hachette India 18 years ago. Since then, the company has grown every year and is now the third largest trade publisher in the country, with a brilliant team working there and so many individual successes that he’s been responsible for. Thomas is one of the most strategic leaders I’ve had the pleasure to work with as well as being one of the warmest and most generous with his time and knowledge.”
Jagoorie: ‘A Solid Business With a Great Team’
Thomas Abraham retires this year from his position as the founding managing director of Hachette India. Image: Hachette UK
Jagoorie, says, in part, “It has been such a privilege to work with and learn from someone as incredibly knowledgeable, experienced and inspiring as Thomas. I’m grateful to him for hiring me, for always encouraging and guiding me, and for trusting me to take this company forward. I’m also very thankful to the top leadership at Hachette: David [Shelley, CEO of Hachette UK and Hachette Book Group], Richard, and Charlie, for this amazing opportunity. Thomas has built a solid business with a great team and a fantastic track record and I am excited to step up and ensure that we honor that legacy.”
Jagoorie joined Hachette India in 2008 as the product manager for Little, Brown and Headline. Her exceptional performance saw her promoted to head of product and deliver strong results with United Kingdom divisions, including: Little, Brown; Hodder; and Profile—represented in India by Hachette.
She led the marketing and publicity campaign for Indra Nooyi’s My Life in Full, which has sold 140,000 copies since its release in 2021, and she picked and promoted bestsellers including The Devotion of Suspect X, The Silent Patient, and The Empire of the Moghul series. One of her key strengths has been her ability to work closely with booksellers across the country and curate the immense range of titles published by the Hachette group.
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