Mr. Shanks was appointed Chief Operating Officer of Penguin Putnam in April 1997. Prior to becoming COO, he served as President of the Putnam Berkley Group for over six years (prior to the merger of Putnam Berkley and The Penguin Group). Before taking on this position in 1991, he served for six years as President of The Berkley Publishing Group and Senior Vice President of The Putnam Berkley Group.

He joined The Berkley Publishing Group in 1979 as Vice President and director of sales. In 1982, he was promoted to Senior Vice President and director of planning and operations, where he oversaw all business aspects of the company including sales, production and forecasting. He remained in this position until his appointment to President of The Berkley Publishing Group in 1985.

Mr. Shanks' career in the book business began in 1968 upon graduating from Holy Cross College. His first job was book manager of the Brauninger News Company in Trenton, New Jersey. In 1974, he left Brauninger News to join the Village Voice, where he was Vice President of single copy sales, and in 1978 became director of planning and operations for Select Magazines.