2026 Special Advisors Bios

Cevin Bryerman is the Chief Executive Officer at Publishers Weekly, the international news platform of the book publishing industry, and President of the PW Content Studio. He has been in the publishing business for more than 35 years, working at the helm of both trade and consumer magazines in strategic planning, business development, and strategic partnerships. Over the span of his career, Cevin has worked on many publications, including Boating Industry and Waterway Guides, Library Journal, School Library Journal, Variety, Modern Bride, American Baby, and others.

Cevin serves on industry committees, most notably the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). He is on the Board of Advisors of the NYU SPS Center for Publishing, Writing, and Media. Cevin earned his BS in Accounting and Finance at the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Michele Cobb is Publisher of AudioFile magazine and MMB Media and Partner at Forte Business Consulting which provides Business Development services for the publishing industry, and through that she serves as Executive Director of The Audio Publishers Association, The Podcast Academy, and PubWest. She is also Publisher of both AudioFile magazine and MMB Media.

Allison Dobson was appointed President of Penguin Publishing Group in April 2018. She oversees Penguin’s adult publishing business in the US, which includes Avery, Berkeley, Dutton, Penguin, Penguin Press, Plume, Portfolio, Putnam, Riverhead, Sentinel, TarcherPerigee, and Viking. Allison joined the company in 2008, first as a member of the Bertelsmann Entrepreneurs Program, and then in a variety of corporate and divisional roles at Random House and eventually Penguin Random House, most recently as Senior Vice President, Director of Strategy and Finance at Penguin. She serves on the Board of Advisors of the NYU SPS Center for Publishing, Writing, and Media. Allison has a BA in Economics and Government from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Andrea Fleck-Nisbet is Chief Executive Officer of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). Before joining IBPA, she was the founding Vice President and Publisher at Harper Horizon, a nonfiction imprint of HarperCollins. Prior to that, Andrea was the Director of Content Acquisition for Ingram Content Group, where she developed initiatives that supported independent publishers of all sizes. She spent her first 15 years in the publishing industry at Workman Publishing, leading teams in special markets, sales, and digital marketing.

Amandeep ‘Aman’ Kochar is the president and group Chief Executive Officer of Baker & Taylor, the 196-year-old book distributor, content services, and software company. His expertise in education technology, publishing, domestic and international operations, and engineering, combined with a high-energy, results-driven approach, has helped him lead Baker & Taylor into the digital realm since joining the company in 2014. As the world’s premier distributor of physical and digital content, software, and services to public and academic libraries, B&T is uniquely positioned to make a difference in communities by helping the libraries that serve them. To help fill the representation gap, Kochar led the launch of Paw Prints Publishing in 2022, returning Baker & Taylor to its publishing roots. The publishing imprint shares stories inspiring and enlightening youth from all walks of life.

Sally Kim is President and Publisher of Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group that is comprised of the imprints Back Bay Books; Little, Brown; Little, Brown Spark; Mulholland Books; and Voracious. She was most recently Senior Vice President, Publisher of G. P. Putnam’s Sons at Penguin Random House, where she also acquired and edited acclaimed and bestselling fiction by Kiley Reid, Robert Jones, Jr., Chloe Benjamin, Steven Rowley, Megan Abbott, Sarah Winman, Alma Katsu, Cristina Alger, and Susan Barker. Sally has held senior editorial positions at Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, the Crown Publishing Group, and St. Martin’s Press, after getting her start at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency almost 30 years ago. In 2022, Poets & Writers honored her with The Editor’s Award. Sally serves on the Board of Advisors of the NYU SPS Center for Publishing, Writing, and Media.

Mary McAveney is President and Chief Executive Officer at ABRAMS. Prior to this position, she was the Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at Open Road Integrated Media, where she developed and executed organic and inorganic growth strategies for the company, identified acquisition targets, and pursued them to completion, culminating with the sale of the company in 2021. Mary was previously Senior Vice President of Marketing and later Chief Marketing Officer at Open Road, and has also held positions at MSM Book Marketing, Smilebox, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins Publishers, and Harry N. Abrams, Inc. She serves on the Board of Advisors of the NYU SPS Center for Publishing, Writing, and Media. Mary earned her degree from the College of New Jersey.

Keith Riegert is the Publisher of the Brooklyn-based independent publishing companies, Ulysses Press and VeloPress Books. He is also a co-founder of the book publicity and digital marketing firm Pacific & Court and the printing marketplace Perfect Bound, as well as Little, Brown Lab and Kingfisher Press. Prior to his current role at Ulysses Press, Keith was Associate Director of Analytics for Hachette Book Group. He serves on the Board of Advisors of the NYU SPS Center for Publishing, Writing, and Media. Keith holds a BA in English literature from the University of California Santa Barbara and an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business.

Lorraine Shanley is President of Market Partners International. She began her career at Barnes & Noble and Book of the Month Club, where she was Executive Vice President in charge of clubs and merchandise. Lorraine moved to HarperCollins as Editorial Director, but left to co-found Market Partners International, which remains the only firm focused on consulting and recruiting for publishers. She serves on the Advisory Board of New York University’s Center for Publishing, Writing, and Media, and for five years chaired the Launch Kids Media conference at Digital Book World. A member (and past president) of Women’s Media Group, Lorraine is on the board of The Hudson River Museum and is a livery member of the Stationers Company Communications & Content Guild in London. She graduated from the University of Rochester and received her MA from the University of Virginia.

David Shelley is CEO, Hachette Book Group US and Hachette UK. David previously based in the UK, started his career at independent publisher Allison & Busby in 1997 before joining Little, Brown as Editorial Director in 2005. Initially commissioning mainly crime and thriller novels and overseeing the audio and ebook lists, he became Publisher of their commercial imprint Sphere in 2007, then overall Little, Brown Publisher in 2011. Authors Shelley published include Mitch Albom, Mark Billingham, Carl Hiaasen, Dennis Lehane, Val McDermid, and J.K. Rowling. He became Chief Executive Officer of Orion and Little, Brown in 2015, and in January 2018 became Group Chief Executive Officer of Hachette UK, which is the second-largest consumer publisher in the UK. In January 2024, Shelley, now based in New York, started a new role as CEO of both HBG US and HUK. He is a past President of the Publishers Association, a trustee of the Reading Agency, and a director of Tate Enterprises.

Kate Murphy Zeman is Head of News Product Business Development at Google. She has been at Google for more than 10 years. Prior to her current position, Kate was the Global Head of News and Publishing Partnerships, where she led business development for Google's News and Books product portfolio. Before joining Google, her previous roles included content marketing, merchandising, and product management at Barnes & Noble.com, Scholastic, and digital media startup iAmplify. Kate serves on the Board of Advisors of the NYU SPS Center for Publishing, Writing, and Media. She earned her BA in English Literature and Biology from Brown University.