Tracie D. Hall was a prominent spokesperson for the freedom to read, well-known for her mantra “free people read freely.”
Catching up with PW's Andrew Albanese
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On Tuesday, Wiley announced that CEO Brian Napack had stepped down. Matthew Kissner becomes interim CEO, effective immediately, according to Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly executive editor.
“Kissner will oversee a restructuring that Wiley officials detailed earlier this summer,” Albanese says. “At the time, the company announced a plan to streamline the company’s operations to focus on research and learning and, in the process, sell a host of businesses that generated revenues of almost $400 million—about 9% of Wiley’s $2.02 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ended that April 30.”
Also leaving a prominent leadership role is Tracie D. Hall, Executive Director at the American Library Association.
“This is another surprise announcement—Tracie D. Hall resigned from her position last week, bringing a sudden end to her tenure after what has been, to put it mildly, a tough four years for ALA,” Albanese explains.
“Hall’s tenure came during one of the most challenging periods in the organization’s history. She took the role in January 2020, the first female African-American executive director in the association’s long history. Just days later, at the 2020 ALA Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, it was revealed that the association was facing a serious financial shortfall. And just weeks later, the nation went into lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.
Hall was a visible spokesperson for the freedom to read, Albanese notes, becoming well-known for her mantra “free people read freely.”
Every Friday, CCC’s “Velocity of Content” features the editors and reporters of Publishers Weekly for an early look at what news publishers, editors, authors, agents, and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.
