Mad Cave Studios has announced the promotion of Kristen Simon to executive editor of Nakama Press and two new hires, Charles Beacham as Editor and Holly Aitchison as Trade Marketing Manager.

Simon joined Mad Cave as a Senior Editor in 2024 after being laid off from her position as Group Editor at IDW (see “IDW Editor to Mad Cave”) in a wave of layoffs at that company. Prior to that, she was Editor in Chief at Netmarble F&C and managing editor at Com2us Corporation. “Her vision, dedication, and expertise have been instrumental to Mad Cave’s success,” Executive Editorial Director Mike Marts said in a statement accompanying the announcement.

Beacham, who is joining the team as an Editor under Marts, was an Assistant Editor at Marvel for three years, working on Ms. Marvel, Hawkeye, Deadpool, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Star Wars, then moved to Activision, where he oversaw the development of the comic based on their Destiny 2 sci-fi shooter game. In 2022 he went to IDW, where he was an editor on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comics (see “IDW Hires Three”).

Aitchison will be the new Trade Marketing Manager, responsible for trade-facing campaigns, metadata optimization, and direct contact with retailers in the direct market, book channel, and library market. Previously, they were at IDW, responsible for the Top Shelf line (see “IDW Hires for Marketing”), Humanoids, and BOOM! Studios.