VNU Business Media has promoted KELLY ROMAN to sales director of VNU US Literary Group. Roman will oversee marketing and sales efforts for VNU’s Kirkusand The Book Standard properties. Roman joined the company in 2005 as an account executive.

NEIL SAUNDERS has joined Ogilvy Chicago as managing partner, director of strategic planning. Saunders will oversee brand development across various accounts. Most recently, he served as senior vice president and director of brand planning for Leo Burnett.

BILL EMMOTT, editor of The Economist, is stepping down after 13 years at his post, and 26 years at The Economist. A new editor will be chosen by The Economist Group board of directors, subject to approval by the company's four independent trustees.

Y2M: Youth Media and Marketing Networks has opened a New York office and JILL HIGSON, who has been hired as the company's executive director of national sales and marketing, will head the office. Higson will be responsible for handling the company's entertainment and media accounts, overseeing sales operations and driving new business growth. Before joining Y2M, Higson was director of sales for Datran Media.

WhitePages.com has hired CRAIG PARIS as regional vice president. Most recently, Paris served as vice president of sales at Admarketplace.net.

TDA Advertising & Design, Boulder, has hired BEN JAMES as senior art director on the Chipotle, Crocs and Fox Racing Suspension accounts. Most recently, James was art director at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky.

Postproduction company Spy Post has appointed LORI JOSEPH as producer. Joseph began her career at ILM and held positions from a production assistant to post production supervisor on special effects TV commercials.

Scholastic has named TRACY VAN STRAATEN vice president, trade publicity. In this newly created position, van Straaten will be responsible for overseeing all publicity efforts for Scholastic's Trade Publishing Division. Most recently, van Straaten was vice president, executive director of publicity, for Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

OgilvyOne New York has named MICHELLE BOTTOMLEY and HARVEY KIPNIS as co-managing directors of the New York office. Both will retain their current roles as general manager, OgilvyOne consulting, NA, and senior client strategist, respectively.

BOUKER POOL has been named director, sports marketing and events for Rodale. Pool joins Rodale from Podion Sponsorship Group, where he was the founder and principal.

Meredith has made a bevy of hires and promotions. ANDY SAREYAN joined Meredith as president of Better Homes and Gardens and executive vice president, Meredith Publishing Group; WENDY RICHES has been promoted to executive vice president, Meredith Publishing Group; TOM HARTY was promoted to executive vice president, Meredith Publishing Group; JACK BAMBERGER has been promoted to senior vice president, corporate sales; NANCY WEBER was promoted to chief marketing officer; MICHAEL BROWNSTEIN was named senior vice president and publishing director; DOUG OLSON was tapped as senior vice president of operations; and MIKE LAFAVORE was named editorial director for Family Circle magazine.

The AIM Tell-A-Vision Group has named MICHAEL CASTELLÓ vice president of advertising sales. He most recently served as vice president of MediaAmerica en Español, a division of Jones Media Networks.

AKQA has named ANDREW O’DELL president, interactive advertising where he will oversee AKQA’s interactive advertising operations nationally. O’Dell joined AKQA in 2004 as senior vice president after four years as vice president of business development at Carat. In addition, STUART SPROULE was elevated to managing director, San Francisco, up from director of client services. GUY WIEYNK was promoted to director of client services, replacing Sproule in that role. Wienyk joined AKQA’s London office in 1998 and relocated to San Francisco in 2004 to run the Microsoft Xbox relationship on a global basis. Wieynk will now be leading the AKQA interface design team.

ID Society has named ADAM PAUL manager of new business. Prior to joining ID Society, Paul was the east coast sales manager at Eyeblaster.

JONAS HALLBERG has joined Dotglu as creative director.

GREG SMITH has left his post as vice president of e-commerce at Cendant to launch EchoTarget, a behavioral targeting ad network.

The Rosen Group has promoted RYAN MCGINN and ARLYN DAVICH to senior account executives, up from account executives.

CurtCo Publishing's San Diego Division has named STEVE FISHER to the position of vice president, custom publishing. Prior to joining the San Diego division's team, he worked for Sony Electronics, most recently as general manager and director of marketing for the QUALIA brand.

JAMES KEPLESKY has been named vice president, interactive sales for Hachette’s Men’s Enthusiast Network. He’ll oversee the sales efforts for the Car and Driver, Road & Track, Premiere, Sound & Vision, Cycle World, Boating, Flying, American Photo and Popular Photography & Imaging Web sites. Before joining Hachette, Keplesky was senior vice president, strategic sales and marketing at Primedia.