January 25, 2023
Julia A. Reidhead, Chairman and President of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., Elected Chair, AAP Board of Directors
Washington, DC — The Association of American Publishers announced today that its Directors have elected Julia A. Reidhead as Chair of the Board for the 2023-2024 term. Ms. Reidhead, who is Chairman and President of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., has served on the Board since 2020 and served as Vice Chair during the 2022-2023 term. She assumes the Chair as W. W. Norton—the largest independent and employee-owned book publishing firm in the United States—celebrates its 100th anniversary.
Incoming AAP Board Chair Julia Reidhead is the Chairman and President of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. (photo credit: Beowulf Sheehan)
The Board also re-elected Brian Napack, President and CEO of John Wiley & Sons, as an officer, in the position of Vice Chair. Mr. Napack has been a Director since 2017 and an officer since 2019, including serving as Chair of the Board from September 2020 to January 2022. Jeremy North, Managing Director, Books, Taylor & Francis, was re-elected to a fourth term as Treasurer. He has served as a Director since 2015 and an officer since 2020. Michael Pietsch, Chief Executive Officer of Hachette Book Group, transitions from Chair of the Board during the 2022-2023 term to the position of Immediate Past Chair. He has served as a Director since 2013 and an officer since 2021.
“Julia Reidhead leads a historic publishing house at W. W. Norton that has long been committed to independent authorship, groundbreaking scholarship, and robust education, or put another way, the values and objectives of the modern publishing industry,” commented Maria A. Pallante, President and CEO, Association of American Publishers. “Her tenure as AAP’s Chair coincides with alarming attacks on the laws and policies that make publishing markets possible, including efforts to normalize piracy, undercut licensing, and sanction censorship. But what good fortune to have this Chair, this set of officers, and this Board acting in service to the industry at this important time.”
“Additionally, the AAP community is indebted to outgoing Chair Michael Pietsch for his tireless, clear-sighted leadership at the helm,” said Ms. Pallante. “Among many 2022 highlights under his watch is the Maryland district court’s unequivocal affirmation in AAP v. Frosh that it “is only through the protection of copyright that books and other creative works may be generated and distributed at all.”
“The AAP Board of Directors has a long and distinguished track record of effective stewardship,” commented Julia Reidhead. “It is a privilege to assume the role of Chair, to work hand in hand with my fellow Board members and AAP’s talented team, to represent the many large and small publishers in this essential industry, and to address the extremely pressing challenges that will have a direct impact on the immediate and long-term vitality of publishing—from incentivizing copyright markets to facilitating critical dialogues around free speech, diversity, and sustainability.”
In related news, the AAP launched two new member programs this month on DEI and Environmental Stewardship, formalizing work that was championed by previous chairs John Sargent, Brian Napack, and Michael Pietsch. Also this month, the Board welcomed Vikram Savkar, who is Senior Vice President and General Manager, Medical Markets at Wolters Kluwer Health,as its newest Director. He joins Blaise Simqu, CEO, SAGE Publications; James Milne, President, American Chemical Society Publications; Jon Yaged, President, Macmillan Publishers US; and Tom ap Simon, President, Pearson Higher Education and Virtual Learning; all of whom joined the Board for their companies during the course of 2022.
About Julia A. Reidhead
Julia A. Reidhead is Chairman and President of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.. She is the first woman to lead the company and to oversee all of its departments, including College, Trade, Norton Ltd., W. W. Norton Canada, and the imprints Liveright, Countryman Press, Norton Professional Books, and Norton Young Readers. Ms. Reidhead previously served as Vice President and Publishing Director of Norton’s College Department, where, for more than 30 years, she was the principal in-house editor of the lauded Norton Anthologies, among them The Norton Anthology of English Literature and first editions of The Norton Shakespeare, The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, and The Norton Anthology of World Religions. On the Trade side, she has edited works by Adrienne Rich, Seamus Heaney, Pauli Murray, Russell Shorto, and Anne Enright.
In addition to chairing the Association of American Publishers, Ms. Reidhead serves on the board of the National Book Foundation and was Chair of the Board of Governors of Yale University Press from 2012 to 2022.
About AAP
AAP | The Association of American Publishers represents the leading book, journal, and education publishers in the United States on matters of law and policy, advocating for outcomes that incentivize the publication of creative expression, professional content, and learning solutions. As essential participants in local markets and the global economy, our members invest in and inspire the exchange of ideas, transforming the world we live in one word at a time. Find us online at publishers.org or on Twitter and Instagram at @AmericanPublish.