Shona Burns: 2008 Publishing Executive Hall of Fame Inductee
When Shona Burns first entered college, she was unsure of what she wanted to study. “I started out doing a business studies degree,” she recalls. “I was bored rigid. … I had met a couple of fellow students who were getting a publishing degree and found what they were talking about a lot more interesting than what I was doing myself.” Burns switched majors, and business studies’ loss was forever publishing’s gain. Through the ensuing decades, the initial enthusiasm she felt for publishing only grew, manifesting itself in an outstanding record of professionalism, innovation and service that has earned Burns the praise of her peers, a position as executive director of production at Chronicle Books and a place in the Publishing Executive Hall of Fame, the nation’s most prestigious honor in print production.