Press Release: Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt to Deliver Keynote at BISG Annual Meeting
James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble
New York NY (January 14, 2020) — The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) announced today that James Daunt, named CEO of Barnes & Noble in August of 2019, will deliver the closing keynote at the 2020 Annual Meeting of Members, which will take place at the Harvard Club of New York on April 24, 2020.
BISG also announced that the theme of this year’s meeting will be “Building a Smarter Supply Chain.” Mr. Daunt’s presentation will be preceded by a series of panels and discussions designed to consider and explore ways the industry can work together to improve operations and adapt to take advantage of new opportunities.
In addition to being CEO of Barnes & Noble, Mr. Daunt also serves as Managing Director of Waterstones, the largest retail bookseller in the United Kingdom. Mr. Daunt currently oversees 627 Barnes & Noble stores in the United States, and 293 Waterstones locations across the U.K., Ireland, The Netherlands, and Belgium.
Brian O’Leary, Executive Director of BISG said, “I’m delighted that James Daunt will join us at a meeting dedicated to moving the industry forward. Barnes & Noble has played a leading role in shaping the industry and its use of standards. Since he took the helm last summer, people throughout the industry have been interested in what B&N will do next. We’re honored to host one of his first talks on this side of the Atlantic.”
Programming for the Annual Meeting serves BISG’s audience of traditional and digital publishers, manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors, service and technology partners, bricks-and-mortar and online retailers, local and regional library systems, trade associations, consultancies, and entrepreneurs.
In addition to the keynote from James Daunt, thought leaders from various segments of the industry will share their insights, expertise, and predictions for how U.S. book publishing will evolve. BISG volunteers will provide updates on the foundational work taking place in the organization’s standing committees, and BISG members will approve the 2021 budget and a new slate of board members.
BISG board chair Andrew Savikas added, “The Annual Meeting is a time for us to convene as an industry, amplify challenges and opportunities, and discuss potential solutions and innovations. We expect that this year’s event will continue to build on past successes, while also bringing some new voices to the conversation.”
Early bird registration opens today with a draft agenda available now on the BISG website The full agenda and roster of speakers for the 2020 Annual Meeting of Members will be announced shortly.
Link: https://bisg.org/events/EventDetails.aspx?id=1316217
About the Book Industry Study Group
BISG is the book industry’s leading trade association for information standards and research creating the connections and conversations that solve problems advance new ideas and more profitably bring published content to readers. Its broad membership includes trade educational professional and scholarly publishers as well as distributors wholesalers retailers manufacturers service providers and libraries.
In partnership with other industry associations BISG maintains and implements standardized best practices develops and shares leading-edge research and information and fosters education through events and webinars that help our membership and the industry better understand market trends and issues.
