THE MARKETS Conference 2017: Just how hard is it to break the glass ceiling?
Successful female leaders discuss the role of women in the publishing industry
Frankfurt, 1 August 2017 – According to some estimates, women make up the majority of the publishing workforce. Women buy more books than men do, and more female authors are making it onto the bestseller lists than ever before. So why are publishers’ executive offices still dominated by men, and why is there a perceived glass ceiling when it comes to female career advancement in the publishing industry? At THE MARKETS conference on Tuesday, 10 October 2017, five successful female leaders in publishing will discuss how they reached these top positions, will share their personal experiences, and will explain the challenges they faced along the way. They will also give their views on what needs to change for more women to do the same and to inspire young women at the start of their publishing careers.
The panellists
Tracey Armstrong is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Copyright Clearance Center, bringing more than 20 years of experience in rights management with CCC to the industry. Leading the organisation through a period of phenomenal change and challenge, Tracey has helped transform CCC’s licensing solutions to meet the needs of today’s digital publishing world. She works with publishers, authors, universities, businesses and industry associations around the world, addressing copyright concerns and establishing new alliances. In addition, she frequently speaks at industry conferences and events as a thought leader on digital copyright licensing issues. Tracey Armstrong holds an MBA from Northeastern University and serves on the Board of the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organisations (IFRRO).
Sophie de Closets was appointed publisher of Fayard in France in 2014, after ten years as a fiction and non-fiction editor. She graduated from the École normale supérieure, has a PHD in History, and taught history at Sciences Po Paris. She is the editor of Hillary Clinton, Henry Kissinger, Bob Dylan, Elizabeth Strout, Leslie Jamison, JP Delaney, and many others. She will publish the French editions of the forthcoming books by former US president Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama.
Arpita Das runs the award-winning independent publishing house Yoda Press based in New Delhi. She is also the Curator of the Book Award for Excellence in Writing on Cinema and the Word to Screen Market at the Mumbai Film Festival every year. Over the last three years she was responsible for giving form to a cutting-edge Word Lab at the Indian Institute of Human Settlements in Bangalore. She is also the co-founder of a self-publishing platform called https://www.authorsupfront.com/(opens in a new window). A few years ago, she was Adjunct Faculty on the MA in Publishing programme at New Delhi's Ambedkar University. She writes on books, publishing, popular culture and book culture for various well-known periodicals and platforms in India.
Xandra Ramos-Padilla is the managing director of National Book Store (NBS) and president of the award-winning Anvil Publishing. Xandra has a degree in Management Engineering from Ateneo de Manila University and her MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Xandra, the granddaughter of NBS founder Socorro Ramos, currently oversees the entire book store’s operations, managing its over 2,500 employees and devotedly finding ways to encourage more Filipinos to read.
Vicky Williams is Group HR Director at Emerald Group and CEO, Research Media, and has over 15 years’ industry experience in scholarly publishing. She has grown company portfolios through product launch and acquisition and has developed a range of global strategic partnerships. Most recently, she has led the development of Research Media, a creative agency specialising in the research sector.
Jane Tappuni will chair the panel. She is currently General Manager at https://iprlicense.com(opens in a new window) which aggregates and sells IP online via a subscription based platform. Previously Jane had business responsibility for http://www.ingentaconnect.com/(opens in a new window), the world’s largest portal of journals. She also has 7 years’ experience in platform technology and CMS for STM, Association and Academic publishers.
The panel is part of the Business Club conference THE MARKETS on Tuesday, 10 October 2017 from 12.30–13.15 pm. Now one of the most anticipated events of Frankfurt Book Fair each year, organised in cooperation with Publishing Perspectives, THE MARKETS conference’s theme this year is “Change: A 360-Degree View.” The day also features:
• Zen Buddhist author Haemin Sunim (South Korea);
• Nielsen managing director Andre Breedt (UK);
• Orion Publishing Group managing director Katie Espiner (UK);
• Éditions Grasset chief editor for international literature Jean Mattern (France);
• HarperCollins India CEO Ananth Padmanabhan; and
• PTS Media Group managing director Arief Hakim (Malaysia).
More information on the programme, the speakers and how to secure a ticket at
https://www.buchmesse.de/en/visit/trade-visitors/conferences/business-c…(opens in a new window)
Your membership in the Frankfurter Buchmesse Business Club includes a seat at THE MARKETS. A 20% discounted early bird rate for the Business Club continues to 31 August 2017.
We would like to ask journalists to register for this event by sending an email to gruen@book-fair.com(opens in a new window).
Photographs of the panellists in high resolution are available for download here: https://fbm.cloud.booklan.de/index.php/s/y9CTaofF9A2Gvfb(opens in a new window)
About the Frankfurter Buchmesse
The Frankfurter Buchmesse is the international publishing industry’s biggest trade fair – with over 7,150 exhibitors from 106 countries, around 278,000 visitors, over 4,000 events and approximately 10,000 accredited journalists and bloggers – in attendance. It also gathers key players from other media, including the film and games industries. Since 1976, the Frankfurter Buchmesse has featured an annual Guest of Honour country, which showcases its book market, literature and culture to attendees in a variety of ways. The Frankfurter Buchmesse organises the participation of German publishers at around 20 international book fairs and hosts trade events throughout the year in major international markets. With its Business Club, the Frankfurter Buchmesse offers essential services and an ideal setting for the activities of publishers, entrepreneurs, pioneers, experts and visionaries. The Frankfurter Buchmesse is a subsidiary of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association. https://www.buchmesse.de/(opens in a new window)
Contact for the media:
Press & Corporate Communications, Frankfurter Buchmesse
Katja Böhne, Vice President Marketing & Communications, tel.: +49 (0) 69 2102-138, press@book-fair.com(opens in a new window)
Kathrin Grün, Head of Press & Communications, Tel.: +49 (0) 69 2102-170, gruen@book-fair.com(opens in a new window)
> Press information online >https://www.buchmesse.de/en/press/press-releases(opens in a new window)
> Photos in print quality >https://www.buchmesse.de/en/press/press-material(opens in a new window)