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| Allison Belan | |
Allison Belan has been hired as the ninth executive director of the Book Industry Study Group. She replaces Brian O'Leary, who retires on June 30. He has served as executive director since 2016.
Belan has worked for 22 years at Duke University Press, mostly recently as director, strategic innovation and services, responsible for technology operations and publishing infrastructure at the press, encompassing books and journals. She also is responsible for the launch and day-to-day management of the Scholarly Publishing Collective, a publishing services business within the press that provides content hosting, sales, and fulfillment to nonprofit scholarly publishers.
Belan will join BISG officially on June 22. A transition plan is already underway; BISG members will have opportunities to meet her over the next several weeks.
BISG board chair Matt Kennell of Versa Press noted, "Allison joins BISG with hands-on knowledge of our core topics, including supply chain, metadata, rights management, accessibility, distribution, and standards development. She also brings the experience and credibility necessary to engage with C-suite decision makers and other stakeholders across the supply chain."
Belan commented, "For the past 50 years, BISG has led the industry in working to solve problems and build interoperability across book publishing. Its contributions are foundational to the modern supply chain: the creation of the BISAC subject codes standard, the launch and development of metadata standards, and the transition to the 13-digit ISBN are just three examples. BISG's recent focus on Book Publishing Next, an ambitious plan to update how the supply chain functions, shows that its vibrant legacy continues. I'm honored and excited to be a part of the transformations that BISG will lead in the future."