Speakers
Our stellar lineup of speakers is listed in alphabetical order by last name.
Howard Fisher
Managing Director, The Fisher Company
7620 N. La Cholla Boulevard, Tucson, AZ 85741
520-547-2460
howard.fisher@thefishercompany.com
www.thefishercompany.com
Howard W. Fisher is managing director of The Fisher Company, which specializes in mergers and acquisitions and business development for publishers.
His 30 years’ experience as a book publisher has allowed him to be involved with all aspects of publishing. Howard has had success operating four publishing companies. He has founded, built and sold two successful trade book publishing companies. The first, HPBooks, produced bestselling nonfiction trade paperbacks and is now an imprint of Penguin Putnam. The second, Fisher Books, specialized in health, pregnancy, childcare, parenting, self-help, cooking and gardening, and was acquired by the Perseus Books Group. He also launched the business trade list at Pfeiffer & Company (now a part of Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley).
The Fisher Company was formed to provide expertise to help other publishers develop and grow their businesses and equity.
Mr. Fisher holds a BSBA Finance (Cum Laude) from California State University and graduate studies in the MBA program at the University of Arizona. He is a past President of Publishers Marketing Association.
In addition to his consulting activities, Howard publishes educational books, automotive nostalgia titles, and fly fishes whenever possible.
Alan Giagnocavo
President, Fox Chapel Publishing
1970 Broad Street,
East Petersburg, PA 17520
717-715-8600
alan@foxchapelpublishing.com
www.foxchapelpublishing.com
Alan Giagnocavo started Fox Chapel Publishing as a niche publisher serving the interests of woodcarving enthusiasts in 1991. It is now an integrated book and magazine publisher serving the larger market of woodworkers, crafts and some other subject areas, From a kitchen table to a business with 30 employees, it has been listed twice on PW's list of "Fast Growing Independents." Located in Lancaster, PA, the headquarters are in a renovated tobacco warehouse.
Janet M. McDonald
Vice President of Business Development, Ingram Publisher Services and Publisher Consumer Direct Fulfillment
14 Ingram Blvd.,
One Ingram Blvd.,
LaVergne, TN 37086
615-213-5129
janet.mcdonald@ingrambook.com
www.ingrambook.com; www.ingrampublisherservices.com
Janet McDonald was named Vice President of Business Development for Ingram Publisher Services in February of 2007.
Ms. McDonald most recently served as Vice President and General Manager of Spring Arbor Distributors Inc., joining Spring Arbor in 1999 in this capacity. In February of 2005, she added the role of Vice President of Sales for Ingram Book Group ABA Independent stores.
Prior to Ingram, Ms. McDonald held several executive positions including Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer with Athlon Sports Communications Inc.
Ms. McDonald received her bachelor of science degree in Marketing from the University of Tennessee and her master of business administration from Belmont University.
Tim O'Leary
President, Respond2 Communications
207 NW Park, Portland, OR 97209
503-276-4094
toleary@respond2.com
www.respond2.com
Tim O’Leary is one of the founders and CEO of Respond2 Communications, a nationwide conglomeration of advertising and marketing companies that includes Cmedia, Production West, and MMSI. With a client list that includes Vonage, Bare Escentuals, Chase, America Online, Home Depot, Proctor & Gamble, Philips, Sony Music, and many other major brands, the Respond2 companies comprise the largest independently-owned advertising agency in the nation.
The company’s entertainment marketing division, Respond2 Entertainment, creates and markets classic video and music libraries for legendary entertainers that include Johnny Carson, Bob Hope, Rodney Dangerfield and many others. Based in Portland, Oregon, the company has offices in Philadelphia, Providence, RI, Chicago, and Billings, Montana. Respond2 was recently named the second-fastest growing private company in Oregon, as well as the second-largest advertising agency in Oregon. The company billed over $300 million in 2007 alone.
Previous to founding Respond2, O’Leary had established a long and successful track record as an innovative entrepreneur, founding over a dozen companies in industries ranging from television production and talent management to software and real estate development. As one of the founders and the CEO of The Tyee Group, (now a division of French advertising conglomerate Euro RSCG) he helped elevate the company from a small local production company into one of the largest commercial producers in the country. O’Leary was also an early technology pioneer, as the founder of Cork Control, and a co-founder of 800.com.
O’Leary’s creative work has also won him many prestigious national and international awards and accolades, including Clio Awards (the advertising industry’s Oscars), and numerous medals from The New York Festivals, ERA Awards and many other competitions.
Recently O’Leary and his wife and partner Michelle Cardinal were featured in Inc. Magazine as one of the “Entrepreneurs We Love” celebrating the magazines 26th anniversary, and O’Leary was profiled in Fortune Small Business April 2006 issue. He has served on the board of The Electronic Retailing Association, and lectures frequently on marketing and advertising. O’Leary was the featured speaker at the Dentsu World Marketing Conference in Tokyo, The Central American Advertising Federation in Mexico City, and dozens of other conferences.
O’Leary’s book on entrepreneurship and management, Warrior’s, Workers, Whiners, & Weasels, was awarded “Best Book of 2006 in the Business Category” in the “Best Books 2006 Awards”. He writes regularly for Forbes and DM News, and has authored dozens of articles on technology, management, advertising, and marketing for publications that include Advertising Age, AdWeek, Brandweek, and many other leading industry publications.
Raised in Montana, O’Leary serves on the Marketing Committee for the University of Montana School of Business. An avid outdoorsman and environmentalist, O’Leary also serves on the Board of Oregon Trout, a non-profit conservation organization.
Mark Ouimet
Vice President of Business Development, Ingram Publisher Services and Publisher Consumer Direct Fulfillment
14 Ingram Blvd.,
One Ingram Blvd.,
LaVergne, TN 37086
615-213-5129
mark.ouimet@ingrambook.com
www.ingrambook.com; www.ingrampublisherservices.com
Mark Ouimet has been a part of the book industry for over 30 years. He began his career at the Stanford University Bookstore and worked as a buyer and a manager there for 13 years. In 1990, he joined Publishers Group West and served in a variety of roles at PGW including as Executive Vice President of Marketing and as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing. In 2004 he left PGW for the publishing side of the industry and went on to become the Associate Publisher and Director of Sales and Marketing at North Atlantic Books in Berkeley, California. Mark joined Ingram Publisher Services in June 2007 as Vice President, Business Development. He has also served as a member of the Board of Directors of PMA.
Bryan Pellegrini
VP Marketing & Sales, Book Group, The Media Services Group
2510 W. Dunlap Ave.,
Phoenix, AZ 85021
623-363-3615
bpellegrini@msgl.com
www.msgl.com
Mr. Pellegrini's industry experience dates back more than 20 years. He is now the, VP Marketing & Sales for The Media Services Group, serving over 400 publishers software needs. Previously he served as Executive Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Computing Information Services (CIS), S3 Publishing Technologies and Global Turnkey Systems. Bryan also served as CEO of the industry internet technologies firm, BookZone. Before publishing, he served in the Submarine Force of the US Navy as an electrical engineer.
Andrew Savikas
General Manager, Tools of Change for Publishing / Program Chair, TOC Conference
10 Fawcett Street,
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-499-7599
andrew@oreilly.com
toc.oreilly.com
Andrew Savikas is the General Manager of O'Reilly's Tools of Change for Publishing (TOC) division, and is the program chair for the Tools of Change for Publishing Conference. Andrew also blogs regularly for both TOC and the O'Reilly Radar, and serves on O'Reilly's corporate steering committee.
Andrew built his first website in 1995 (using vi) while at the University of Illinois, where he also grew to love both print media and journalism as Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Illini.
Andrew's been hacking away at publishing and authoring tools within O'Reilly since 2002, including helping to design and build an XML content delivery platform based on the Atom Publishing Protocol. He regularly speaks at conferences and to publishers and other companies about XML publishing and content management. Andrew is also the author of Word Hacks: Tips & Tools for Taming Your Text. He holds a degree in Media Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA from the High Tech MBA program at Northeastern University in Boston.
Mike Shatzkin
Founder & CEO,
The Idea Logical Company, Inc.
240 East 56th Street, Suite 4E,
New York, NY 10022
212-758-5670
mike@idealog.com
www.idealog.com
Mike Shatzkin, the Founder and CEO of The Idea Logical Company, has been involved with the book publishing business for nearly half a century. His first position was a sales clerk in the then brand-new paperback department of Brentano's Bookstore on 5th Avenue in the summer of 1962. Since then, he has played virtually every role in the book value chain: in editorial, production, marketing, and sales, domestically and internationally. He has also written several published books. Since 1979, he has been an independent consultant.
Starting in the 1990s, Mike has been at the forefront of the industry's thinking about digital change. He organized the first conferences dedicated to the electronic transition for trade publishers, the initial one sponsored by Publishers Weekly in 1993. Since then, he has spoken at and organized events looking at the future all over the world: in New York, London, Sydney, Frankfurt, Vancouver, Toronto, and elsewhere.
Idea Logical's recent consulting assignments have included looking at the impact of digital marketing, exploring what internal process changes are necessary for publishers to take advantage of digital distribution, and extensive work on employing supply chain data to make operational decisions.
Fran Toolan
President/Chief Igniter,
Firebrand Technologies
44 Merrimac Street, Newburyport, MA 01950
978-465-7755
fran@firebrandtech.com
www.firebrandtech.com
Fran is the founder and President of Firebrand Technologies. For more than 20 years, Fran has been working with book publishers to help them improve their businesses through the use of technology. Fran's passion for the book publishing business is exemplified by his constant involvement in industry standards groups as well as by his entrepreneurial approach to adapting Firebrand to the ever changing needs of the industry.
Outside of work, Fran spends time with his family, enjoys sailing, hiking, and numerous athletic endeavors.
Steve Weintraub
President and Publisher, Lawyers & Judges Publishing Company, Inc.
917 N Swan Rd.,Tucson, AZ 85711-1213
520-323-1500
steve@lawyersandjudges.com
www.lawyersandjudges.com
Steve Weintraub is a publishing and business consultant, inventor, author, coach, entrepreneur and meeting planner. A graduate of Business Economics and Environmental Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He worked for publishers in California, Arizona, and Texas before joining Lawyers & Judges Publishing Company in 1987, as Publisher and President. He has authored six products for Lawyers & Judges Publishing Company.
Originally founded in 1963, Lawyers and Judges Publishing Company publishes a wide range of forensic resources for legal practices. Under his guidance the company has grown to serve customers world-wide. The product line includes books, e-books, software, and CD-Rom products. In 1994, L&J's website became one of the first commercial sites on the Internet.
In 1997, Weintraub founded Authentic Anatomical, a division of Lawyers & Judges Publishing, an Internet retailer of anatomical charts, models, and other anatomy based products for attorneys and medical professionals. In 1998, Weintraub founded, Lawyers & Judges Publishing Seminars, which stages CLE & MLE programs for attorneys and medical professionals. In 2004, Weintraub formed, the Human Capital Consultants Network, helping companies staff competent and creative people by utilizing a range of Human Resource products and services.
He is a founding member and volunteer on the Board of Directors of the Steven M. Gootter Foundation which is dedicated to defeating sudden cardiac death.
Thomas Woll
President,
Cross River Publishing Consultants, Inc.
3 Holly Hill Lane,
Katonah, NY 10536
914-232-6708
twoll@pubconsultants.com
www.pubconsultants.com
Thomas Woll has over twenty-five years of experience in the areas of trade, direct response, and professional publishing, most at senior management levels. He has, uniquely, been directly responsible for companies as small as start-ups and divisions as large as $80 million. In addition, Woll has extensive experience working with magazine companies who wish to leverage their editorial product into book publishing efforts.
Woll’s experience spans all areas of trade book publishing, including editorial development and planning; new product search and acquisition; sales and marketing (including creation of marketing plans and budgets; setting up distribution; and creating sales terms); rights; production and manufacturing; budgeting and strategic planning.
Woll’s experience includes:
• Vice President & General Manager, Professional & Trade Division, John Wiley & Sons (the division consisted of five product lines: business, general interest, computer, psychology, and hospitality titles.)
• Vice President & Publisher, Book Division, Rodale Press, Inc.
• Publisher, Storey Communications/Garden Way Publishing
• Vice President & Publisher, Beaufort Books, Inc. (U.S. subsidiary of Stoddart/General Publishing Co., Toronto)
• Vice President & General Manager, Vanguard Press, Inc.
He has also served on such industry panels as:
• Association of American Publishers, Executive Council
• Association of American Publishers, Chairman, Smaller Publishers Group
• Publisher’s Marketing Association, Board of Directors
• Small Press Center (NYC), Advisory Board
• USIA sponsored publishing mission to Bulgaria
• Chinese Press & Publication sponsored publishing mission to China
Woll holds an MBA from New York University and is an adjunct professor at NYU’s Center for Publishing, teaching at the master’s level. He has lectured frequently, and given keynote addresses, at industry events sponsored by the Association of American Publishers; PMA, the Independent Book Publishing Association; Mid-Atlantic Publishers Association; Arizona Book Publisher’s Association; Rocky Mountain Book Publisher’s Association, Publishers of the South, and many others. He was also invited to give two seminars at the Buenos Aires Book Fair in 2007.
Woll is the author of the book Publishing for Profit: Successful Bottom-Line Management for Book Publishers and Selling Subsidiary Rights: The Insider’s Guide. He is a member of the Author's Guild, Inc.
Cross River Publishing Consultants, Inc. is a member of the Book Industry Study Group, PMA, the Independent Book Publishing Association and Publishers of the West.