(PRESS RELEASE)
Six Board Members Appointed to Independent Book Publishers Association’s Board of Directors
The Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) is excited to welcome six new members to its board of directors: Brenda Avadian, Jim Milliot, Shannon Okey, Rob Price, Mark Suchomel, and Brooke Warner. The six candidates were voted onto the board by the IBPA membership during IBPA’s March 22, 2014 Annual Membership Meeting. Their two year terms begin July 1, 2014.
“We’re excited to welcome such a diverse group of individuals to our board of directors,” said IBPA Executive Director, Angela Bole. “Each brings to the board valuable hands-on experience and a commitment to service that suits IBPA’s mission to lead and serve the independent publishing community.”
New Board Members Include:
 Brenda Avadian founded North Star Books as a way to quickly publish her humorous career-development book, Drive North in Your Career! in 1992. Her professional career began in 1980—first as a seminar leader, then in diverse yet integrated roles as university professor, author, executive coach, publisher, corporate consultant, and a national speaker. Her Los Angeles-based micro-publishing house, North Star Books, has touched lives around the world with translations of her books for dementia caregivers after she cared for her father who lived with Alzheimer’s. Her 2014 co-authored title STUFFology 101: Get Your Mind Out of the Clutter, offers a uniquely FUN approach which invites people to define their own clutter before applying flexible approaches to get rid of it. When Brenda’s not speaking, she’s writing 100+ articles annually for four websites.
 Jim Milliot is co-editorial director of Publishers Weekly and vice president of PWxyz, the company that acquired PW from Reed in April 2010. Jim has been with PW for 20 years, starting as the business and news editor, topics he still covers today. Prior to joining PW, Jim was executive editor at Simba Information, a publisher of newsletters and market studies on various media segments, including trade and educational book publishing. Simba’s flagship publications were BP Report and Educational Marketer, for which Jim served as editor. Jim is a regular contributor to different industry publications, including Bowker’s Book Consumer Annual Review.
 Shannon Okey is the founder of Cooperative Press, an innovative fiber arts publisher that has recently expanded into fiction publishing. She began her publishing career as an author, writing a dozen books for major publishers, including the award-winning Knitgrrl series, as well as magazine columns for several titles. Shannon has presented on niche publishing at South by Southwest and the O’Reilly Tools of Change digital publishing conferences, and believes in improving digital access to information through more open ebook standards. She’s @knitgrrl on just about all social media.
 Rob Price is the President and founder of Price World Publishing, Belmont & Belcourt Books, and BookBullet.com. He entered the book-publishing world in 2001 as a 19 year-old fitness enthusiast selling a homemade workout program on eBay from his college dorm room. Within a year, Rob self-published The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Sports and after being picked up internationally for distribution, Rob branched out to launch his own publishing company. Rob has been a member of the IBPA since 2007 and holds a Juris Doctorate from The Ohio State University where he was honored as one of ten Moritz Scholars.
 Mark Suchomel is the president of Legato Publishers Group, a distribution division of the Perseus Books Group which provides print and electronic format sales and distribution services to select independent publishers. He is formerly president of Independent Publishers Group (IPG) and Trafalgar Square Publishing, both book distribution companies. At IPG he created the Small Press United division, among other things. Mark brings to IBPA years of experience working with domestic and international independent and small, start-up publishers, Spanish language, and academic presses, as well as in general trade, gift, and alternative markets.
Brooke Warner is publisher of She Writes Press, president of Warner Coaching Inc., and author of What’s Your Book? and How to Sell Your Memoir. Brooke’s expertise is in traditional and new publishing, and she is an equal advocate for publishing with a traditional house and self-publishing. Her website (www.warnercoaching.com) was selected by The Write Life as one of the Top 100 Best Websites for Writers in 2014. She lives and works in Berkeley, California.
The six new members join a thirteen member board, presided by board Chair Deltina Hay, that oversees and represents IBPA members’ interests.
About the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA)
Founded in 1983, the Independent Book Publishers Association is the largest not-for-profit trade organization for publishers in the United States. IBPA’s mission is to lead and serve the independent publishing community by providing advocacy, education, and tools for success. For more information, visit www.ibpa-online.org.
Independent Book Publishers Association
1020 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Suite 204
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
P: 310-546-1818
F: 310-546-3939
E: info@IBPA-online.org
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