Praveen Madan named CEO and publisher of Berrett-Koehler

Indian American strategy and transformation consultant Praveen Madan has been named as the new CEO and publisher of Berrett-Koehler Publishers (BK), described as a mission-driven publishing company, in place of David Marshall, who has retired.

“I am deeply honored and grateful to have this opportunity to serve the global Berrett-Koehler community, which has been a source of profound learning and unwavering generosity,” Madan stated in a company press release.

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Madan envisions a new publishing model for BK that continues to deepen its roots as an author-friendly, mission-based book publisher and expands innovation and collaboration with partners, it said.

After a successful career as a strategy and transformation consultant for leading companies, Madan moved to the book industry and has become a leader in developing a new model for next-generation community bookstores, the release stated.

As CEO of Kepler’s Books since 2012, he has led a successful turnaround and reinvention of this legendary cultural institution.

Madan’s innovative strategies, such as embracing the nonprofit model, implementing community financing and governance, developing new revenue streams, and raising wages to build a strong team, are being replicated by many bookstores around the US, according to the release.

He says his learnings from the BK community have been critical to his success in the book industry.

BK founder and senior editor Steve Piersanti stated, “Berrett-Koehler is wonderfully fortunate to welcome Praveen as our new CEO and publisher. Praveen brings the best of both outsider and insider experience through his business consulting career, followed by his dynamic independent bookselling leadership, combined with serving from 2009 to 2020 on the BK board of directors, including two years as board chair. Praveen brings intimate knowledge of BK’s business and culture along with fresh, innovative outsider perspectives.”

Berrett-Koehler Publishers has been facing financial difficulties over the past year due to several factors, including the lingering effects of the pandemic and market pressures within BK’s areas of publishing. Madan’s vision and turnaround experience will guide the company through these challenges to emerge stronger than ever, according to the release.

BK author and board chair Joyce Roché stated, “I have always believed that the right person shows up at the right time and that is the case with our selection of Praveen as Berrett-Koehler’s new CEO and publisher.”

“Praveen has the brainpower, book industry experience, and passion for Berrett-Koehler that are needed at this challenging time in the company’s history. As BK moves forward with new leadership, we welcome support and involvement from anyone who wants to join us in the BK community’s mission of co-creating a world that works for all.”

Madan said, “One of the reasons why I am accepting this challenge is the urgent necessity to reimagine the relationship between book publishers and bookstores. I would also love to see more publishers, bookstores, and authors adopt the human-first approach that Berrett-Koehler has pioneered. Our collective future is at stake.”

Madan is a nationally recognized leader in reinventing bookselling and building literary communities. As CEO of Kepler’s Books since 2012, Praveen has been leading a community-sponsored initiative to transform Kepler’s into a model next-generation community bookstore.

In 2021, he co-convened the Reimagining Bookstores movement with a mission to strengthen communities, deepen literacy, and pay living wages to people working in bookstores.

Reimagining Bookstores’ inaugural conference attracted nearly 600 participants from all walks of the bookstore ecosystem and was reported by Publishers Weekly to be “one of the most invigorating gatherings on independent bookselling in a generation.”

Madan is the former chair of the board of directors at Berrett-Koehler Publishers. He holds an engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Before moving to the book industry, he spent a decade working at Kearney, the global management consulting firm.