Jane Friedman

Jane Friedman, 62, was the President and Chief Executive Officer of HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, one of the world's leading English-language publishers, from 1997 to 2008. She came to HarperCollins from Random House. Her departure from HarperCollins was reported in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times on Wednesday, June 5, 2008. [http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-newscorp-harpercollins.html]

After graduating from Hewlett High School, Friedman earned a B.A. degree in English from New York University in 1967. She previously worked at Random House, where she was Executive Vice President of Random House, Inc., Executive Vice President of the Knopf Publishing Group, Publisher of Vintage Books, and Founder and President of Random House Audio Publishing. She has served on the board of the Association of American Publishers, Literacy Partners, Yale University Press, and Poets & Writers, Inc. [http://www.pw.org/about/board.html] She is also a member of the American Advisory Committee of the Jerusalem International Book Fair [http://www.jerusalembookfair.com/main.html] , the Advisory Committee to the MFA program in creative writing at The New School and is a Vice-Chair of the Entertainment, Media and Communications Division of the UJA- Federation of New York. [http://www.ujafedny.org/]

Awards

Publishers Weekly Person of the Year [http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6398454.html] The Wall Street Journal’s 50 Women to Watch [http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/retro-50women-06.html] ; Fast Company’s Fast 50; New York Magazine’s The Influentials. 101 Most Powerful People in Entertainment by Entertainment Weekly [http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,318518,00.html] .

Personal

Friedman lives in Manhattan and East Hampton, N.Y.

Her father, Bert Lippman, was a graphic artist. Her mother Ruth was one of New York's original Miss Subways.

Milestones

Friedman is credited with inventing the author's tour, now a staple of the industry. [http://www.nysun.com/article/18982?page_no=3]

Friedman founded and became president of the first audio books division of a trade publisher.

References:

[http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/103/open_38-friedman.html] [http://nymag.com/news/features/influentials/16902/]

External links

HarperCollins Publishers India HarperCollins Publishers US HarperCollins Publishers UK

HarperCollinsChildrens US HarperCollins Publishers AUS HarperCollins Publishers CAN Zondervan [http://www.zondervan.com]