Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch To Keynote BISG Annual Meeting
Michael Pietsch, CEO of Hachette Book Group, will provide the opening keynote at BISG's Annual Meeting, scheduled to take place in person on April 22 at the Harvard Club of New York. The meeting's theme, "Build Books Better", covers what we've learned and what we've yet to fully address in capturing supply-chain opportunities in the book business. A full listing of the speakers and topics planned for the day can be found here.
Michael Pietsch is Chief Executive Officer of Hachette Book Group, which comprises seven publishing groups – Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Nashville, Little, Brown, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Orbit, Perseus Books, and Workman Publishing. HBG is the U.S. division of Hachette Livre, the world’s third-largest publisher of trade and educational books. As CEO, Michael has overseen the acquisitions of Workman Publishing, Perseus Books, Black Dog & Leventhal, and Hyperion Books during a period of growth and transformation for HBG.
Earlier in his 40-year publishing career, as Publisher at Little, Brown and in editorial positions at Crown and Scribner, Pietsch published books by acclaimed writers including Michael Connelly, Malcolm Gladwell, Peter Guralnick, Stephenie Meyer, Walter Mosley, James Patterson, Keith Richards, J.K. Rowling, Stacy Schiff, David Sedaris, Donna Tartt, David Foster Wallace, and Malala Yousafzai. He continues to edit select books, and his passion for the close partnership between writers and publishers is the foundation of his approach as CEO.
Michael serves on the boards of PEN America and Poets & Writers, and is currently serving as Chairman of the Association of American Publishers. He and his wife, Janet Vultee Pietsch, a children’s book editor, have three children and live north of NYC.
The BISG Annual Meeting takes place each April, highlighting trends and opportunities to improve how books are conceived, developed, produced, marketed, and sold across the supply chain. Recent keynotes have included: Michael Tamblyn, CEO of ebook retailer Rakuten Kobo; James Daunt, CEO of book retailer Barnes & Noble; and Sherri Aldis, chief of publications at U.N. Publishing.
The 2022 meeting will be the first since 2019 to take place in person. Topics to be covered include a report on the transformational work performed in BISG's several committees; a conversation among industry associations covering their work to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in book publishing; advice on how to future-proof publishing work; and leading opportunities to improve the industry supply chain.
The meeting runs from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and includes lunch. During lunch, BISG will ask its members to approve its FY2023 budget and a proposed set of candidates for the BISG board. Honorees for BISG's Sally Dedecker Award for Lifetime Service, Industry Champion Award, and Industry Innovator Award will also be recognized. The program will be followed with an informal, closing session, also at the Harvard Club.
Registration for the event is now open. Tickets are available at reduced rates for both members ($249) and non-members ($349) through March 28, after which prices will increase by $100 for both groups. Sponsorships are also available; contact Brian O'Leary to learn more about the opportunities.