Congratulations to Jeff Abraham, who after three and a half years as
executive director of the Book Industry Study Group, will join Random
House Distribution Services as president on February 1. He will work at
BISG through the end of January "to make sure there is a very healthy,
robust and smooth transition," he told Shelf Awareness. "There are also some things I'm committed to and want to wrap up."
It sounds as though Abraham has his work cut out for him. Just a week ago, in his annual letter to employees, Random House CEO Peter Olson noted that the company plans to expand its distribution services and double the number of client publishers during 2006. Random's distribution billing stands at $100 million already; the company has a huge, state-of-the-art warehouse in Westminster, Md.
During his tenure at BISG, Abraham has shored up the organization's finances, launched many initiatives and made BISG into a kind of forum to debate and deal with many book world issues, do research as well as create and maintain standards for the book industry. Most recently, for example, BISG produced an extensive study of the used book market and finished up its strategic planning process. "I felt the time was right for the next big challenge," Abraham said, adding that the Random position is "a natural transition" and "a good opportunity. It will be an exciting adventure for next year."
It sounds as though Abraham has his work cut out for him. Just a week ago, in his annual letter to employees, Random House CEO Peter Olson noted that the company plans to expand its distribution services and double the number of client publishers during 2006. Random's distribution billing stands at $100 million already; the company has a huge, state-of-the-art warehouse in Westminster, Md.
During his tenure at BISG, Abraham has shored up the organization's finances, launched many initiatives and made BISG into a kind of forum to debate and deal with many book world issues, do research as well as create and maintain standards for the book industry. Most recently, for example, BISG produced an extensive study of the used book market and finished up its strategic planning process. "I felt the time was right for the next big challenge," Abraham said, adding that the Random position is "a natural transition" and "a good opportunity. It will be an exciting adventure for next year."