Diamond Comic Distributors, the world’s largest distributor of English-language comic books, graphic novels, and related pop-culture merchandise, announced Friday that Josh Hayes has been promoted to lead its book market division, Diamond Book Distributors (DBD), as Executive Vice President.

Hayes will assume day-to-day operations of the division, working with DBD’s Sales Managers, client publishers, and manufacturers to promote and grow revenue of upcoming titles and products in the book market. He will report to Diamond’s VP-Sales and Marketing, Roger Fletcher.

Hayes brings over twenty years of book market experience to his new leadership role, first as a buyer for Waldenbooks and in a variety of roles with Diamond Book Distributors, from designing analytical reports to overseeing marketing to expanding the company’s business with Amazon and other e-commerce operations.

Former head of Diamond Book Distributors, Kuo-Yu Liang will transition to focus on growing Diamond Book Distributors international customer base as Vice President of International Sales & Business Development, while also working more closely with the overall Diamond team on various business development projects.