Special Advisors Bios: The NYU Advanced Publishing Institute

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.

Kelly Collins joined Macmillan Publishers in April 2023 as VP, Communications & Community. She oversees employee, external, and CEO communications, as well as Macmillan’s social impact program, MacImpact. Kelly also chairs Macmillan’s AI & Tech Innovation Committee. Kelly’s global career spans music, media, technology and publishing. She previously led communications teams at tech start-ups and Fortune 500 companies including as a member of the People and Public Affairs leadership teams at Dataminr and S&P Global, respectively. Before joining Macmillan, Kelly was Global Head of Internal Communications at Snyk, an AI security platform. Prior to her communications career, Kelly spent many years in the music industry specializing in business & legal affairs at companies such as Warner Music Group and Capitol Records. Over the years, she has lived and worked in New York, London, Los Angeles, and Dublin.

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.

Christine Edwards is the Senior Vice President of Global Sales and Sub Rights at Abrams Books. She has over twenty years of experience in publishing and book buying and merchandising management. Christine began her career at Borders Group, working across the adult, children’s, and gift categories. In 2010, she joined Penguin Random House as VP, Group Sales Director for the Crown and Audio Publishing Divisions.  She later moved to HarperCollins as SVP, Sales and Digital Marketing, overseeing the Adult Trade Sales and Digital Marketing teams. Throughout her career, Christine has developed go-to-market strategies for renowned and bestselling authors such as President Barak Obama, Michelle Obama, Jeff Kinney, Ina Garten, Joanna Gaines, Eric Larson, Matthew Desmond, Ann Patchett, Gillian Flynn, Andy Weir, and Alex Aster.

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.

Chantal Restivo-Alessi is Chief Digital Officer and CEO, International for HarperCollins Publishers, leading the overall global digital strategy and the general management and operations of all foreign language publishing. She works with each division around the world to manage commercial relationships with new and existing digital partners and grow digital revenues, and oversees the company’s developing foreign language publishing program. She is also a member of the company’s executive committee. She was appointed Chief Digital Officer in May 2012, and expanded her role to Executive Vice President, International in April 2015.

Since joining HarperCollins, Restivo-Alessi has pioneered the use of new digital sales channels, signing numerous deals with new distributors. She led the launch of the company’s e-commerce platform on www.HC.com, opening yet another channel for the company, and enabling its authors to sell directly from their web properties. In addition, she oversaw the initiation of the company’s global publishing program, a unique approach to providing authors, such as Karin Slaughter, Daniel Silva and Don Winslow, with coordinated publishing and marketing services that take advantage of worldwide consumer, media and retail trends. 

Restivo-Alessi has extensive expertise in strategy development and execution, as well as change management in the media space. She has held numerous senior strategy positions and has more than 20 years of international media management experience. She joined HarperCollins 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. 

Restivo-Alessi is fluent in six languages, holds an MBA from Columbia University, a Masters in Foreign Trade and International Marketing from ICE Italian Institute, and a Laurea (MA) in International Political Sciences from University of Rome.

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.