Mixologist? Cruciverbalist? (That’s a crossword enthusiast, in case you were wondering!) Yes, new fall faculty in the M.S. in Publishing: Digital and Print Media program are experts in these areas as well as more mundane pursuits such as long-distance running, ballroom dancing and acting. Did we mention collage art? Read on to learn more about the senior publishing executives joining our renowned faculty this semester and how they distinguish themselves outside the classroom:
Ana Maria Allessi (eBooks and Digital Transformation) is Vice President of Digital Innovation and Publisher of HarperAudio, having joined HarperCollins Publishers in 2001. Ana Maria oversees publication of HarperAudio’s 500+ unabridged audiobooks a year, and, working with the Chief Digital Officer, supports global digital innovation for HarperCollins’ authors. She earned her degree from the Hartt School of Music.
Ana Maria is a collage artist (http://anamariaallessi.com/), working by hand using vintage paper.
Alessandra Balzer (Children’s Book Editing) is Co-Publisher of HarperCollins’ Balzer + Bray children’s book imprint, where she oversees a list of approximately sixty-five titles per year, from picture books to teen fiction, and acquires and edits an average of sixteen books per year. Among the authors she works with are Mo Willems, Patricia McCormick, Candace Bushnell, Mac Barnett, Chris Columbus, and Emily Danforth. Alessandra began her career as an editorial assistant at HarperCollins Children’s Books; she then went to Hyperion Books for Children, working her way up to Executive Editor before returning to HarperCollins to start Balzer + Bray. She earned her degree from Colgate University.
Alessandra emigrated from Italy when she was young – her first words in English were “shut up.”
Paul Boccardi (Introduction to Multimedia Financial Analysis) is Director of Finance for two major divisions within Hachette Book Group USA. He works directly with senior business management on strategic and operational issues, creates detailed forecast and budget reporting packages for business units, and provides financial guidance to publishers on major title and author acquisitions, among other duties. Previously, he was with Simon & Schuster for five years, where he served as the Director of Corporate Finance and worked directly with senior management on strategic and operational issues. Paul began his publishing career at Random House, where he held a variety of positions across the organization. He earned his M.B.A. from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business.
Paul attended every New York Yankee World Series home game played at Yankee Stadium during the 1990s.
Joy Bomba (Capstone Thesis) is a publishing consultant and until recently was Executive Publishing Director, News, Sports, Style & Entertainment Group – Books at Time Home Entertainment, Inc., where she oversaw and developed Time Inc.’s book publishing strategy for brands including: LIFE, People, TIME, TIME For KIDS, Sports Illustrated, SI Kids, Entertainment Weekly, Essence, Fortune, Golf, and Money. She previously was Assistant Publishing & Marketing Director, News Group Books and Publishing Director, News & Sports Group Books at Time Home Entertainment, and Renewals Marketing Manager, and New Business Marketing Manager in the Business and Finance Cluster at Time Consumer Marketing. Joy earned her degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
Joy has set a goal of running 1000 miles in a calendar year, and only has 27 miles left to go!
Pat Eisemann (Public Relations and Corporate Communications) is Vice President, Director of Publicity for Macmillan’s Henry Holt and Company, where she oversees the publicity departments of the Henry Holt and Company, Metropolitan Books, and Times Books imprints; she has worked on top fiction and nonfiction best-selling books by Stephen King, Annie Proulx, Don DeLillo, Senator Hillary Clinton, Hilary Mantel, Billy Crystal, Rob Lowe, Rick Atkinson, and Frank McCourt. Previously, she was Assistant Director of Media Relations and Community Affairs/Corporate Communications for The New York Times Company; Vice President and Director of Publicity for Simon and Schuster’s Scribner imprint; and Director of Publicity for Macmillan and for Simon & Schuster trade paperbacks. She received her B.A. from American University.
An ardent cruciverbalist, Pat has entered several crossword competitions and does The New York Times puzzle in ink, religiously.
Lane Jantzen (Book Distribution, Merchandising, and Sales) is Vice President, Director of Sales, Random House Publisher Services at Penguin Random House (U.S.), where he supervises the National Accounts team; manages high-level relationships (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Baker & Taylor, Books-a-Million, BJ’s, COSTCO, Ingram, Sam’s Clubs, etc.); liaises with 34 client publishers, and serves on the Executive Committee. Prior to joining Random House, he was Director of National Accounts Marketing and Barnes & Noble National Account Manager for Perseus Books Group; he has also held positions at Routledge, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., International Thomson Publishing, Wallace’s College Book Co., and UCLA. Lane received his degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Lane has lived in Los Angeles and New York City – but grew up on a farm in California.
Jonathon Lyons (Contract Negotiation) is an agent and Director of Translation Rights at Curtis Brown, Ltd., where he works with a select group of authors in a variety of topics, as well as overseeing translation rights for the entire agency list. He is also an attorney at Savur, Threadgold & Pellecchia, LLP, where he advises on subjects including print and digital publishing, work for hire, collaboration, character licensing, film/TV option and purchase, copyright, subsidiary rights licensing, permissions, and other general publishing and entertainment agreements; he also serves as an advisor for Speakaboos – [212] Media. Jonathan has also held positions at Folio Literary Management, LLC, Lyons Literary, LLC, and McIntosh and Otis, Inc. He received his J.D. from Yeshiva University’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.
Born in San Antonio, Jonathan bleeds silver and black, the colors of the San Antonio Spurs.
Stephen Morrison (Introduction to Book Publishing) is Vice President and Publisher of the Picador imprint at Macmillan, where his recent editorial projects have included Chris West’s A History of Britain in 36 Postage Stamps, Olivia Laing’s The Trip to Echo Spring: On Writers and Drinking, Elisabeth de Waal’s The Exiles Return, Tatamkhulu Afrika’s Bitter Eden and The School of Life trade paperback original philosophy series. Previously, he was Senior Editor and later Vice President, Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher of the Penguin Books imprint at Penguin Group (USA), Inc., and Director of Rights/Contracts & Executive Editor, Bloomsbury Publishing (US); he also held positions at Maria B. Campbell Associates international literary scouting and McCann-Erickson. Stephen earned his degree from Brown University.
Stephen once trained to be a Fred Astaire dance instructor for three months – he didn’t get the job.
Lauren Panepinto (Principles of Art and Design) is Creative Director of Orbit Books, the science fiction and fantasy imprint of Hachette Book Group USA; she also oversees the Yen Press manga imprint, and has a freelance practice, Lauren Panepinto Design, providing book covers, logos, websites, and more. Prior to joining Hachette, she held design and art direction positions with Perry Ellis International, 100% Design Studio, MTV’s on-air graphics department, Macmillan’s St. Martin’s Press/Picador imprint, and Random House’s Doubleday/Broadway Books imprint. Lauren earned her degree from the School of Visual Arts.
Lauren has an unofficial degree in mixology, and attended the Cocktail World Convention in New Orleans earlier this year.
Chantal Restivo-Alessi (Introduction to Digital Media) is the Chief Digital Officer for HarperCollins Publishers, leading the overall global digital strategy for the company. She manages the commercial relationships with existing and new digital partners to grow digital revenues worldwide. Previously, she held numerous senior strategy positions and has more than 20 years of international media management experience. She joined HarperCollins in 2012 from ING Bank in London, where she was Head of Media Corporate Finance. In addition, she has worked at Aegis Group PLC in senior strategy and operational roles, EMI Music, and Booz & Company. She holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University.
Chantal was part of a student theater group at Columbia Business School.
Mathew Reynders (Management and Leadership in Transitional Times) is Director, Business Operations for WebMD, where he is General Manager of WebMD Magazine in print and on tablet, as well as numerous brand extensions; he directs circulation for all distribution platforms; and heads business development, with a focus on emerging media technologies for tablet products. Until recently, he was Senior Advertising Finance Manager for Time Inc.’s Lifestyle Group, having previously been Consumer Marketing Business Manager for InStyle and Group Finance Manager for the Style & Entertainment Group. Prior to joining Time Inc., he was Consumer Marketing Planning Manager for Men’s Titles and for Shelter Titles at Hearst Magazines, as well as having held positions at Sears, Roebuck, and Company. Mathew received his M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
Mathew tended bar in Russia, sold handbags in China, and rode a camel in Dubai, while traveling to ten countries in twelve months during grad school.
Jillian St. Charles (Web Editing and Writing) is Vice President of HGTV.com at Scripps Networks Interactive, where she is responsible for the strategic direction and day-to-day operations of the site, overseeing editorial (video, text, photography) programming, entertainment convergence with the network, tool and application integration and development of sponsorship opportunities. Jillian began her career with CNN in Atlanta, where she produced one of the network’s highest-rated and longest-running shows, TalkBack Live. Most recently, she was online director of the Redbookmag.com. She previously held programming positions with AOL, developing editorial vision for women’s/lifestyle Web areas. Jillian earned her degree from Northern Kentucky University.
During her senior year in high school, Jillian was Huddles, the mascot for the Cincinnati Bengals.