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Our Team

Learn about the members who make up the Simon & Schuster publishing team.

Kevin Hanson, President and Publisher

Kevin Hanson is the President and Publisher of Simon & Schuster Canada. He joined the company as President in 2005 and in 2013 also named the company’s first Canadian publisher. He is responsible for all of the publishing, sales, marketing, financial, and operations activities of Simon & Schuster Canada, which is also the exclusive distributor in Canada of the book and audio products of both Simon & Schuster and Simon & Schuster UK, as well as for Simon & Schuster’s roster of US distribution clients.

Nita Pronovost, Vice President Editor in Chief

Nita Pronovost is Vice President and Editorial Director at Simon & Schuster Canada. She oversees the publication of many bestselling international and domestic fiction authors, including Ruth Ware, Kate Morton, Beverley McLachlin, Santa Montefiore, Liz Nugent, Amy Stuart, Samantha M. Bailey, and Iain Reid. Her nonfiction list includes New York Times bestselling authors Rupi Kaur, and Tegan and Sara. She specializes in thrillers, upmarket commercial women’s fiction, historical fiction, celebrity biographies, and hard-hitting memoirs. She is also a novelist, writing under the pen name Nita Prose. Her debut, The Maid, which has been published in over 40 countries, was a #1 New York Times bestseller and a Good Morning America Book Club Pick. 

Janie Yoon, Executive Editor

Janie Yoon is Executive Editor at Simon & Schuster Canada. Previously, she was at House of Anansi Press, where she worked with bestselling and award-winning Canadian and international authors such as Tanya Talaga, Gil Adamson, Patrick deWitt, Ins Choi, Margaret MacMillan, Lawrence Hill, Ronald J. Deibert, Adam Gopnik, Neil Turok, Douglas Coupland, Behrouz Boochani, Cho Nam-joo, and Sofi Oksanen. Her interests are in literary and upmarket fiction, international fiction and works in translation, and serious nonfiction in subjects that include politics, geopolitics, social justice, humanitarian issues, history, biography, memoir, science and technology, and nature and environment. She is passionate about publishing diverse stories from a diverse range of voices, and books that will make a positive and lasting impact on culture and society.

Sarah St. Pierre, Editorial Director

Sarah St. Pierre is Executive Editor at Simon & Schuster Canada. Since joining the company in 2014, she has worked with bestselling authors of fiction and nonfiction including Emily Austin, Robert Bateman, George Canyon, Janet Skeslien Charles, Genevieve Graham, Heather Marshall, Peter Mansbridge, and Beverley McLachlin. She is looking for commercial novels, historical fiction, generational stories, psychological thrillers, upmarket romance, memoirs, and narrative nonfiction that brings new information to a wide audience and changes the conversation.

Brittany Lavery, Senior Editor

Brittany Lavery has worked in publishing since 2009, joining Simon & Schuster as Senior Editor in 2022. Previously, she spent seven years at Graydon House Books, an imprint of Harlequin/HarperCollins, where she acquired commercial fiction, working with bestselling authors such as Tarryn Fisher, Karen Hamilton, and Jenny Lecoat. She has also worked for Penguin Random House Canada and the University of Toronto Press. Brittany is looking for upmarket book club fiction that feels ripped from the headlines and starts a conversation; family dramas with intergenerational perspectives and ensemble casts; immigrant and refugee stories; novels that prioritize a queer perspective; commercial fiction with a strong hook, including literary/commercial crossover fiction; smart and fresh suspense; and narrative non-fiction, particularly in the areas of feminism, LQBTQIA+ issues, social justice, memoir, and nature writing. In all categories, she is looking for diverse and underrepresented voices. 

Justin Stoller, Senior Editor

Justin Stoller is senior editor (nonfiction) at Simon & Schuster Canada with a special interest in sports, current affairs, personal stories of humour and heart, and tales of extraordinary lives. Justin’s authors include NHL hockey players Mark Messier and Max Domi, sports journalist Scott Morrison, First Lady of Iceland Eliza Reid, comedian and popular radio host Ali Hassan, journalist Omar Mouallem, and Debra Thompson, an expert on the politics of race. Previously, Justin worked for a decade at Penguin Random House Canada, where he acquired and edited bestselling and award-winning books in memoir, sports, and culture. Justin would be happy to tell you about what he’s reading for fun, if you want to know.

Adrienne Kerr, Senior Editor

Adrienne Kerr joined Simon & Schuster Canada as Senior Editor in 2022. She spent a decade at Penguin Canada, where she acquired and edited commercial fiction, working with bestselling authors such as John le Carré, Stuart McLean, Gail Honeyman, Fiona Barton, Guy Gavriel Kay, Jack Whyte, A.S.A. Harrison, Ishmael Beah, Emma Hooper, Joseph Kertes, Robert J. Sawyer, Brooke Davis, Eric McCormack, Emily Bitto, and Gabrielle Zevin. Adrienne has also been a publisher’s sales rep, a book buyer for a national chain, and a bookseller. She’s looking for psychological thrillers, upmarket women’s fiction, atmospheric historical fiction, and literary/commercial crossovers, and appreciates distinctive voices and crisp prose. In non-fiction, she’s interested in memoir, personal essays, social justice, and nature writing.

Jasmine Elliott, Managing Editor

Jasmine Elliott is the managing editor at Simon & Schuster Canada. Prior to joining in 2019, she worked for many years as a freelance editor. Jasmine is proud to assist in ushering all Simon & Schuster Canada titles with care and passion from acquisition to print, and takes particular interest in upmarket romance, literary/commercial crossover fiction, novels and narrative nonfiction from queer perspectives, anything with a hint of the gothic, and everything from diverse and underrepresented voices.

Kaitlyn Lonnee, Editorial Assistant

Kaitlyn Lonnee is an Editorial Assistant at Simon & Schuster Canada. Before joining the editorial team in September 2022, she completed an undergraduate degree in creative writing at Western University and a graduate certificate in creative book publishing at Humber College. Kaitlyn loves to read anything and everything but particularly enjoys horror, fantasy, sci-fi, literary speculative fiction, thrillers, and stories with spunky female characters and queer themes.