2027 Speaker Bios

Senior Vice President, Director of Publicity and Strategic Communications
Random House Publishing Group, Penguin Random House

Susan Corcoran is Senior Vice President and Director of Publicity and Strategic Communications for the Random House Publishing Group at Penguin Random House, where she leads the company's publicity, public relations, events, podcast, and talent relations teams.

For more than three decades, Susan has been at the forefront of how books and authors reach readers, helping to shape the evolution of book publicity through periods of profound change in media, technology, and audience behavior. Throughout her career, she has led publicity campaigns for many of today's most influential authors, public figures, and thought leaders. Working at the intersection of editorial, marketing, and media, she advises on publishing strategy, identifies emerging opportunities, and develops campaigns that expand the reach and cultural impact of books and their authors.A passionate advocate for developing talent, Susan leads a peer mentoring program dedicated to cultivating the next generation of publishing leaders.

Senior Vice President and Director of Marketing Strategy and Engagement
Random House Publishing Group at Penguin Random House U.S

Kristin Fassler is the senior vice president and director of marketing strategy and engagement for the Random House Publishing Group at Penguin Random House U.S. She oversees the creation and implementation of the consumer marketing, branding, and social strategies for 900 fiction and nonfiction titles annually, and supervises a staff that works on title marketing, marketing design, consumer insights, websites, and newsletters.  With over 30 years of industry experience, Kristin has held a variety of jobs in sales, marketing, and publishing strategy, and has worked on campaigns for bestselling authors including John Grisham, Danielle Steel, Diana Gabaldon, Julia Child, Dan Brown, Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, and George R. R. Martin.

Head of Learning Partnerships (TBC)
YouTube

Dean Kowalski leads Learning Partnerships at YouTube.  In this role, he is focused on working with YouTube's top educational partners to drive YouTube Learning’s initiatives to responsibly deliver YouTube content to everyone, everywhere they learn. Prior to YouTube, Dean worked at Google supporting small businesses and taught 9th grade Algebra I via Teach for America.  Along the way, Dean competed on the 39th season of CBS's Survivor. He is an alumnus of Johns Hopkins University School of Education and Columbia University.

Founder
Zon Publishing

Cam Lennon is the founder of Zon Publishing and a leading Amazon strategist for book publishers as well as an expert in AI. Known in the industry as Camazon, he helps publishers see inside the Amazon machine. He understands how algorithms, signals and customer behaviour turn into tangible results and revenue for publishers like Harvard University Press, Yale University Press, DK, Nosy Crow and many more.

Sub-Industry Leader, Advertising and Publishing
Amazon Web Services

Stephanie Leyser, a strategist and subject matter expert in publishing and advertising technology, serves as Global Sub-Industry Leader, Publishers & Advertising, for Amazon Web Services (AWS) Media, Entertainment, Games, and Sports. As. Prior to this role, she was the Vice President of Data, Identity and Ad Tech Products and Platforms at News Corp, serving as a lead to their portfolio of companies including Wall Street Journal, Realtor.com and News UK. In her 15 years in ad tech, she has consulted for dozens of media companies and ran programmatic at multiple media companies including DailyMail.com and New York Post. Throughout her career, she has been an industry thought leader for publishers.

Founder and Executive Chairman, Union Square Hospitality Group 
Chairman of the Board, Shake Shack

Danny Meyer is the New York Times bestselling author of Setting the Table, The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business.

A book on his leadership philosophy of Enlightened Hospitality; the founder of Shake Shack, which he began as a hot-dog cart in Madison Square Park; and the founder of Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), which has created some of New York’s most beloved and acclaimed restaurants, including Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, The Modern, Maialino, Eleven Madison Park, Tabla and more. He has been named a TIME 100 Most Influential Person and won the 2017 Julia Child Award; USHG has won twenty-eight James Beard Awards.

President and CEO
Abrams Books

Mary McAveney is a publishing veteran with decades of experience and expertise in marketing, strategy, and branding. In November 2022, she became President and CEO of Abrams, making her the first woman to hold the position in the company’s history. Her appointment marked a return to Abrams after 30 years, having started her publishing career there in the sales and marketing department. 

As President and CEO of Abrams, McAveney oversees the company’s three divisions—Abrams, Abrams Children’s Books, and Abrams ComicArts—as well as the Abrams Distribution Client business. In addition, she sits on the board of Abrams & Chronicle Books, the London-based European arm of the two companies.

Prior to Abrams, McAveney was the Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Revenue Officer at Open Road Integrated Media.. Her previous positions in publishing include senior roles at Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, and Zondervan, as well as numerous consulting positions with media companies, internet start-ups, and publishers. 

President
The Stable Book Group

Keith Riegert is the President of The Stable Book Group, which includes Ulysses Press, She Writes Press, VeloPress Books, Trafalgar Square Books, and Skybox Press, as well as Stable Distribution (in partnership with Hachette Book Group). Keith is also CEO of Perfect Bound Technologies Corporation and a co-founder of the book publicity and digital marketing firm, Pacific & Court. Keith is a member of the board of advisors at NYU’s Center for Publishing, Writing, and Mediawhere he also teaches Analytics and Consumer Insights. Keith also serves on the board of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA). 

Vice President, Insights & Analytics
Penguin Random House

Reid Welsh is Vice President, Insights & Analytics at Penguin Random House. He joined the company in 2015 and works closely with the PRH Executive and Sales Management teams, and across all of the publishing divisions. Reid provides marketplace and strategy insights for Publishing, Sales, and Finance, and oversees the Business Intelligence program at PRH.. Prior to joining PRH, Reid worked in Corporate Marketing at Simon & Schuster and as a bookseller at the Learnèd Owl Bookshop in Hudson, Ohio. He holds a B.A. in Studio Art from St. Olaf College and a certificate in Data Science from Harvard Business School Online.