John Sterling will leave his position as president and publisher of Henry Holt to become executive vice president of Macmillan, it will be announced later today. In his new job, according to a release that will be issued later today, Mr. Sterling will acquire and edit books for Holt and other Macmillan imprints, direct "digital initiatives" such as podcasting, and work on "various strategic and operational projects."

Macmillan CEO John Sargent sent a memo on the change to Macmillan staff this morning, in which he praised Mr. Sterling's tenure at the helm of the company. "Focusing on his remarkable editorial skills should lead to great benefits for us," Mr. Sargent wrote, "while managing some of our new digital initiatives will allow him to explore new challenges on our behalf."

Mr. Sterling ran Holt for nine years; his position will be filled on an interim basis by Dan Farley, who was president and CEO of Harcourt until recently, when Harcourt was merged with Houghton Mifflin and he left the company. Mr. Farley will take the reins at Holt on February 25th.

Full release after the jump.  read more »