Egmont Publishing is starting a new chapter for its UK Books team with the announcement of three key exec promotions.

Sarah Bates has been promoted to the role of commercial director for the UK books division. She moves into the position—a newly created role with oversight across fiction, picture books, non-fiction, gift and brands and licensing—from her current global role as director of Egmont Creative Solutions. Previously, she was the publishing director of brands and licensing in the UK.

Ali Dougal is moving up to the post of fiction publishing director and will lead a team of five editors. She was formerly the editorial director of fiction at Egmont, launching and building several bestselling authors for the publisher.

Finally, John Packard has been tapped as the new brands and licensing publishing director. Prior to his promotion, Packard was publisher for some of Egmont’s top licensed brands, including Star Wars, Minecraft and Halo, as well as its market-leading Annuals range.

In July 2015, Egmont Publishing established two new global units for its licensed children’s books and magazines businesses. More recently, Egmont  acquired the UK publishing rights to Lego DC Super Heroes and will launch book titles in tandem with the 2017 release of The LEGO Batman Movie.