Press Release: BISG Announces Industry Award Honorees for 2020
New York, NY (February 11, 2020) — The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) announced today that it will recognize David Cully, former President of Baker & Taylor; Janet McCarthy Grimm, recently retired from Lindenmeyr Book Publishing Papers as Vice President of Sales; and Rachel Comerford, Senior Director of Content Standards and Accessibility at Macmillan Learning with industry awards presented at its Annual Meeting in New York City on April 24, 2020.
David Cully will receive the Sally Dedecker Award for Lifetime Service. Named for one of BISG’s longtime volunteers and advocates, the award recognizes the tireless and persistent efforts, often unseen, of an individual working on behalf of the book industry. At the meeting, Cully’s award will be co-presented by Aman Kochar, Executive Vice President & General Manager at Baker & Taylor, and Joe Gonnella, Vice President, Publisher Relations, at Barnes & Noble.
Janet McCarthy Grimm will be recognized with the Industry Champion Award, honoring an individual whose efforts have advanced the publishing industry as a whole. Her work on behalf of book publishing includes service on the boards of the Book Manufacturers’ Institute, the Book Industry Guild of New York, Poets & Writers, and BISG, as well as volunteer service in many other organizations.
Rachel Comerford will receive the Industry Innovator Award, which recognizes an organization or individual who boldly reimagines what publishing is and can be. Over the past several years, Comerford’s team at Macmillan Learning revamped workflows to reliably deliver accessible learning materials. In 2019, Benetech named Macmillan Learning its first Global Certified Accessible Publisher.
BISG Board Chair Andrew Savikas said, “BISG works to bring people together, amplify good work, and solve problems that affect our industry. Through their work, our honorees have done all of these things, and more. I look forward to recognizing them at our annual meeting.”
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.
Featuring a closing keynote from James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble, the meeting will give thought leaders from various segments of the industry an opportunity to 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.
Early bird registration is open through February 28, and a current agenda is now available on the BISG website.
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.
