Thad McIlroy

Co-Host

Thad McIlroy is a digital publishing analyst and author based in San Francisco. His site, The Future of Publishing, provides in-depth coverage of book publishing industry trends. He is a partner in Publishing Technology Partners, and a contributing editor to Publishers Weekly covering publishing innovation, startups and A.I.

Peter Brantley

Co-Host

Peter Brantley is the Director of Online Strategy for the University of California Davis Library. Previously, he worked at the New York Public Library, the not-for-profit Hypothes.is, and the Internet Archive. From 2010-2017, Peter convened a publishing conference with the FBF called “Books in Browsers.” Peter has served on advisory boards for several publishing groups.

Barbara Kline Pope

Executive Director, Johns Hopkins University Press

Barbara Kline Pope is executive director of Johns Hopkins University Press (JHUP), one of the nation’s largest university presses. Prior to her role at JHUP, Barbara was executive director for communications and the National Academies Press at NASEM. She is a past president of the Association of American University Presses, and holds an M.S. from the University of Maryland.

Ken Brooks

President, Treadwell Media Group

Ken Brooks is president of Treadwell Media Group, a publishing and operations, technology and strategy consulting firm focused on education and trade publishing. He’s held senior positions in product development, supply chain and technology. He teaches Education Technology and Information Systems at Georgia Tech and the MS in Publishing program at Pace and a course in Management at George Washington.

Bill Kasdorf

Principal, Kasdorf & Associates, LLC

Bill Kasdorf is Principal of Kasdorf & Associates, LLC, a consultancy focusing on editorial and production workflows, XML/HTML/EPUB content modeling, best practices, and accessibility. Bill is a frequent speaker and writer on publishing technology. He is the W3C Global Publishing Evangelist and serves clients in many publishing sectors, such as trade, education, STM, and scholarly publishing.

Fauzia Burke

President & Founder, FSB Associates

Fauzia Burke is an accomplished industry leader with over 20 years of experience focused on digital marketing and PR. Fauzia pioneered online book publicity, and has promoted books by Ariana Huffington, Deepak Chopra and more. She co-founded Pub Site a DIY Website platform for authors. An accomplished author, she penned Online Marketing for Busy Authors. She leverages her background to innovate book marketing through AI.

Stephen S. Power

Executive Editor, Kevin Anderson & Associates

Stephen S. Power has been a book editor for more than 30 years. An executive editor at Thomas Dunne Books, he specialized in politics, working on a half-dozen NY Times bestsellers, including a #1. Now he's an executive editor at Kevin Anderson & Associates, the editorial services firm, where he's worked on two NY Times bestsellers and five Wall Street Journal bestsellers.

Michael Bhaskar

Writer. Researcher. Publisher.

Michael Bhaskar is a writer, researcher and publisher. He is Co-Founder of Canelo, one of the world’s fastest growing publishing companies, and former consultant Writer in Residence at DeepMind, the world’s leading AI lab.

Keith Riegert

CEO, Ulysses Press

Keith Riegert is the CEO of Ulysses Press (ulyssespress.com), an independent publisher distributed by Simon & Schuster, and the international printing platform, Perfect Bound (perfectbound.io). Keith teaches Analytics and Consumer Insights at NYU’s masters in publishing program where he sits on the board of advisors. He holds an MBA in statistics and marketing from NYU Stern School of Business.

Sean Michaels

Internationally bestselling novelist and critic

Sean Michaels is author of three books, including the 2023 novel Do You Remember Being Born? His non-fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, The Guardian, and Pitchfork. Sean is a recipient of the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Prix Nouvelles Écritures, and a nominee for the Dublin Literary Award, the Kirkus Prize, and the Peabody Awards.

Scott Sholder

Entertainment, Media & IP Attorney

Scott Sholder, Partner, Co-Chair Litigation Practice Group at Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP. Scott Sholder focuses his practice on litigation, counseling, and dispute resolution in connection with entertainment, media, and intellectual property matters. Scott represents and advises clients – from major media and entertainment companies and A-list talent to closely held and startup businesses and individuals – across various industries in copyright, trademark, right-of-publicity, and commercial and business disputes. Scott is a frequent writer and speaker on issues related to copyright and trademark in the entertainment and digital media space.

Catherine Weldon

AI and Machine Learning Associate, PRH

Catherine Weldon is an Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning Associate at Penguin Random House. In her Research and Development role, she works on building applications that enhance and innovate various facets of the publishing process. Catherine has applied her background in Machine Learning and Operations Research to the publishing industry and Penguin Random House for the past two years.

Cliff Guren

Founder & CEO, Syntopical

Cliff Guren works at the intersection of publishing, technology, and creativity. He has held senior management positions at Apple, Microsoft, Quebecor, Skiff (a Hearst funded startup), and Bluefire Productions. He is currently working on an AI-focused research project for Forbes Books. Visit cliffguren.com to read Cliff’s most recent articles on AI and creativity, and syntopical.com to learn more about his publishing related consulting services.

E.J. Wenstrom

Fantasy and science fiction author for adults and teens

E. J. Wenstrom believes in complicated heroes, horrifying monsters, purple hair dye and standing to the right on escalators so the left side can walk. She writes dark speculative fiction for adults and teens, including the young adult dystopian novel Departures and the award-winning Chronicles of the Third Realm War series (start with Mud). When she isn’t writing fiction, she co-hosts the Troped Out and Fantasy+Girl podcasts.

Diem Bloom

Director of Publishing Operations, John Hopkins University Press

Diem Bloom joined Johns Hopkins University Press in January 2021 as the Director of Publishing Operations. In this role, she oversees the Manuscript Editorial, Design, and Production departments and works closely with all Book Division directors in strategic planning and implementation for improved efficiencies across our process workflows. Diem comes to us with extensive experience in academic publishing having worked for publishers including Oxford University Press and Wolters Kluwer and industry suppliers including Newgen in Chennai, India, and Silverchair based in Charlottesville, Virginia. Diem received her BA in English from Dartmouth College.