Following a record 2024, Nashville-based Forefront Books has announced a round of high-level promotions. Topping the list is the move by cofounder, president, and publisher Jonathan Merkh to the new role of CEO and president. Merkh told PW that the shifts will allow him to move into a strategic and executive role for what he said should be an important year for the company. Among the initiatives he is looking at are a possible acquisition and expansion overseas.

Merkh will be replaced as publisher by Becky Nesbitt, who has been promoted from associate publisher to VP and group publisher. Nesbitt spent four years at Penguin Random House before joining Forefront in August 2023. She is just one of a number Forefront employees who had worked with large traditional publishers before joining the hybrid publisher. Merkh himself had worked at Nelson Books and Simon & Schuster’s Howard Books division until forming Forefront in 2018.

In other promotions, four-year Forefront veteran Justin Batt has been named VP of business development and will continue to serve as publisher for the Worth Books, Maxwell Leadership, and Mission Driven imprints. Jennifer Gingerich, who moved to Forefront from Nelson Books in 2021, has been promoted to VP and editorial director.

Two other managers will also have new responsibilities with Lauren Ward becoming chief of staff and author experience director, and David Howell named as CFO.

“I’m incredibly proud of our team. We’ve been in growth mode since Forefront was founded but never more so than this year,” Merkh said. The promotions, he added, “position us well to handle an increase in title count this fiscal year.” Forefront published 59 books last year and expects to do 75 this year.

Merkh attributed much of Forefront’s success to what he calls its “concierge publishing experience,” which has attracted such high-profile personalities as Glenn Beck, John C. Maxwell, Karen Kingsbury, Joan Lunden, Peggy Rowe, and Joe Piscopo.