The SYP Conference 2009

SPEAKERS

 

HELEN FRASER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, PENGUIN


Helen Fraser will complete 38 years in publishing at the end of this year, when she retires as managing director of Penguin UK. She started in academic publishing at Methuen in the early 70s (after a stint at Foyles Bookshop); spent 10 years at Collins and 10 years at Reed (where she was managing director of Reed Consumer Books). She came to Penguin in 1997 as the managing director of Penguin's General Division, and in 2001 became MD of Penguin, taking on responsibility for Penguin Press, Puffin and Penguin General. In her years as an editor, she worked with authors as various as Thomas Harris, Jackie Collins and V S Naipaul. In her time at Penguin, she has helped launch the careers of Jamie Oliver, Zadie Smith and Antony Beevor. At the end of January next year she takes up the post of chief executive to the Girls' Day School Trust.


WILL ATKINSON, SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR, FABER AND FABER


Will Atkinson is currently Sales and marketing Director of Faber and Faber. He started his career in Waterstones, then a five strong chain, in 1985.  He held a number of management jobs, finishing by running the Hampstead branch. In 1994 he went to Faber. Since then he has held no fewer than 9 job titles in sales and marketing roles, proving that they thought he was absolutely brilliant, but had no idea what at. Closely associated with the Independent Alliance, which was launched in 2005, he has also been Chair of the Independent Publishers Guild and is recognised as a champion of the independent sector. He was awarded a Nibbie for Sales person of the year in 2004, shortlisted for Industry Achievement in 2007 and winner in 2008. He won an Outstanding contribution award to Independent bookselling sector at the IBF conference in September 2009. He has sat on the board of the Edinburgh book festival and currently sits on the advisory board of the University of Stirling publishing course.


MICHAEL JONES, CATEGORY MANAGER, BORDERS UK


Michael Jones is Books Category Manager at Borders. Starting on the shop floor at Books Etc, she has since worked across a range of businesses including Online, Direct Mail and Stores. She then moved into an editorial role in the Children's Book team at BCA. During her time there she worked in various departments including marketing, editorial and buying and in both the Children’s and Fiction genres. During this time she also completed a CIM Diploma in Marketing. After a spell at Amazon, working in CE and Toys & Baby she moved to be Head of Fiction at Borders. Now in the position of Books Category Manager she loves the variety, the team management and the changing face of publishing...and she enjoys binning post addressed to Mr.


ALAN SAMSON, PUBLISHING DIRECTOR, ORION BOOKS


Alan Samson has been Publisher of Weidenfeld & Nicolson (part of the Hachette-owned Orion Publishing Group) since 2004. Previously he was Editorial Director of Little, Brown for twelve years, and at Macmillan and Michael Joseph prior to that. His list of non-fiction authors has included Julie Walters, Nelson Mandela, Malcolm Gladwell, Lady Antonia Fraser, Richard Hammond, John McEnroe, Dame Helen Mirren, A.C. Grayling, David Hockney, Antony Beevor, A.A.Gill, R.D.Laing, Clive Stafford-Smith, Edwina Curries's Diaries, "Rogue Trader" Nick Leeson, and Sir Christopher Meyer. Alan's list of fiction writers has included Anita Shreve, Elmore Leonard, Iain Banks, Orange Prize-winner Valerie Martin, Edna O'Brien, David Baddiel and Mitch Albom.


CHRIS BRAZIER, CO-EDITOR, NEW INTERNATIONALIST PUBLICATIONS


Once a reporter with the rock music weekly Melody Maker, Chris Brazier has been a co-editor at New Internationalist Publications (NI) since 1984. Most of his work has been on the co-operative's flagship monthly magazine about global justice issues but he has recently focused on editing the NI’s books and other publications. Since 1996 he has also written regularly for UNICEF. He is author of The No-Nonsense Guide to World History (NI, 2001, revised edition 2006) and Trigger Issues: Football (NI, 2007). He also compiled the NI anthologies Raging Against the Machine (2003) and Brief Histories of Almost Anything (2008).


ROBERT SHARP, CAMPAIGNS MANAGER, ENGLISH PEN


Robert Sharp is the Campaigns Manager of English PEN, a registered charity working to promote literature and human rights.  Robert is also the Director of video design agency Fifty Nine Productions, designed the Liberal Conspiracy website, and maintains an eponymous blog.


SARAH TOTTERDELL, HEAD OF POLICY AND PRACTICE COMMUNICATIONS TEAM, OXFAM


Sarah Totterdell is Head of the Policy and Practice Communications Team at Oxfam GB. The team is responsible for commissioning and disseminating a range of print and on-line materials for development specialist audiences. Sarah has worked in non-profit publishing and communications for over 20 years. Before joining Oxfam, she was with the Directory of Social Change in London, and has also spent time in India helping to establish Books for Change, a non-profit publisher and distributor.



SEMINAR LEADERS


SUZANNE COLLIER, DIRECTOR, BOOK CAREERS

Suzanne Collier is an expert in careers in book publishing.  She has over 25 years experience of working for book publishing companies, at one time or another spending time in every department,  and is the owner of bookcareers.com.  Suzanne sees private clients for career development, keeps a register of those looking for jobs within the industry (CV Clearing House) and runs a job club for those who are unemployed and looking for jobs in publishing (Bookcareers Initiative).  Suzanne is professionally trained and also offers help to career changers, those struggling through interviews or job searches and other career issues such as Work Place Bullying and Work Related Stress.

NIC JONES, MANAGING DIRECTOR, STRATHMORE PUBLISHING


After reading medical science at the University of Oxford, Nicholas Jones expected to go into scientific publishing, but instead found himself working on Dick Francis novels and books about fishing, aviation and dogs at Michael Joseph (now part of Penguin, but then of Thomson Publications) on its Trainee Scheme. Subsequently worked at Thames Television, then the largest ITV broadcasting company, producing books, records and mechandise related to their programmes, and for eight years ran RIBA Publications, the publishing and bookselling arm of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1995, deciding it was then or never to start his own company, he established Strathmore Publishing to provide editorial and  production services for both printed and audio book publishers; now eight strong, the company has its own studio at its Clerkenwell offices, where he has recorded several hundred readers including Ian McKellen, Terry Wogan, Greta Scacchi and Dawn French. He was SYP Chairman in 1979.


GILES CLARK, CO-AUTHOR, INSIDE BOOK PUBLISHING


Giles Clark is Copublishing Adviser, Learning and Teaching Solutions at The Open University where he organises the copublishing arrangements between the University and a wide range of publishers across most academic disciplines. The 4th edition of his book Inside Book Publishing (first published 1988) is co-authored with Angus Phillips, Director of the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies, Oxford Brookes University and was published by Routledge in June 2008. The book’s companion website is www.insidebookpublishing.com. It has become the standard text on UK publishing courses. He is Chairman of the Graham Greene Birthplace Trust.


SUZY ASTBURY, RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT, JFL SEARCH & SELECTION

Suzy joined JFL Search & Selection in January 2008 as a specialist consultant for the Publishing team. Suzy is now responsible for all publishing recruitment from entry level up to board level. She works across all sectors including trade, professional, STM, journals, corporate, charity, publications, print, online and digital roles. She also runs publishing freelance and interim contracts across all sectors and all positions. Suzy has direct experience of publishing, having previously worked in rights, sales and marketing for Michael O’Mara and The Quarto Group. 

HELEN BOWYER, HR MANAGER, MACMILLAN

Helen Bowyer works as Human Resources Manager for the Macmillan Education division of Macmillan Publishing Ltd, who have operations in over 50 countries publishing market-leading English Language Teaching (ELT) and curriculum materials for all levels of education. Helen has 10 year’s experience as an HR professional and a further 10 years in management roles; her experience encompasses a variety of industries including leisure & tourism, retail, education, and – for the last four years – publishing.


DUNCAN MAYO, HR MANAGER, WILEY BLACKWELL

Duncan Mayo is an HR Manager based in the Oxford office of John Wiley & Sons (previously Blackwell Publishing) a leading global publisher providing must-have content and services for the academic, professional, scientific, technical, medical, scholarly and consumer markets. He has been an HR professional for over 10 years of which nearly 6 years of that has been within Academic Publishing. In his current role at Wiley he is responsible for the management of the HR generalist team in Oxford which includes the remit for overseeing recruitment of Publishing vacancies.


MEL CUNNINGHAM, RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT, INSPIRED SELECTION

Mel joined Inspired Selection in September 2008. Mel comes from a production background in both books and journals and previously worked for Taylor and Francis. Prior to this, she worked for Five Mile Press on a freelance basis, whilst completing her MA thesis on recruitment in publishing.  Mel is responsible for entry level appointments in publishing in all locations outside of London, as well as mid level Design appointments outside of London.


VERITY HAWSON, RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT, INSPIRED SELECTION


Verity joined Inspired Selection in June 2009 and deals with all entry-level and junior roles across all areas of publishing.  Before joining Inspired Selection Verity completed an MSc in Publishing Studies at Robert Gordon University and gained experience with Headline Publishing Group where she worked in 4 key departments; Production, Editorial, Marketing and Sales.  She has a background in Modern Languages and Management.


DAVID ATTWOOLL, DIRECTOR, ATTWOOLL ASSOCIATES

David Attwooll is Director of Attwooll Associates, a digital licensing agency and publishing consultancy business. Please see www.attwoollassociates.com . He is also Chair of Liverpool University Press. He was formerly: founder and Managing Director of Helicon Publishing Ltd (set up in 1992 with the strange idea of being a ‘platform-independent’ business); Managing Director of Paperback and Reference Divisions at Random House UK; and Editorial Director of Reference and Trade publishing at OUP. He was once a young publisher (if not a Young Publisher), has been  a digital immigrant for 25 years, and is still learning the language.


DAVY NOUGAREDE, DIRECTOR, HEAVY ENTERTAINMENT LTD and YOUNG PUBLISHING ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR 2009


ANNA LEWIS, DIRECTOR, COMPLETELYNOVEL.COM


RICHARD HART, MANAGING DIRECTOR, HART PUBLISHING


MIKE BRUNWIN, SENIOR LECTURER, LONDON COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATIONS


CHRIS MEADE, CO-DIRECTOR, THE INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE OF THE BOOK


THERESA DUNCAN, RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT, KP PUBLISHING


WENDY TOOLE, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR AND VICE CHAIR, SFEP

SARAH PATEY, MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR, SfEP




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