UNSW Press appoints new board members
Professor George Williams and Fiona Inglis have been appointed to the board of the award-winning UNSW Press.
Published on the 27 Feb 2018 by UNSW Media
New UNSW Press board members Fiona Inglis and George Williams.
UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Jacobs is pleased to announce the appointment of two new directors to the board of its award-winning university press.
George Williams AO is the Dean, the Anthony Mason Professor, and a Scientia Professor at UNSW Law. He has written and edited 35 books, including eight books published by UNSW Press, most recently A Charter of Rights for Australia. A well-known media commentator on legal issues, he is currently a columnist for The Australian, and reviews science-fiction and fantasy books for The Weekend Australian and the ABC.
Fiona Inglis is the Managing Director of Curtis Brown Australia Pty Ltd, a leading Australian literary agency that represents authors of both fiction and non-fiction across all genres. As a literary agent, she manages the works of best-selling authors such as Liane Moriarty, Andy Griffiths and Tom Keneally. Prior to this role, she had sales and editorial positions with HarperCollins and Allen & Unwin.
UNSW Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic Professor Merlin Crossley became Chairman in January 2018, following the retirement of Peter Eichhorn on 31 December 2017. UNSW Chief Financial Officer Stephen Rees also sits on the Board.
Professor Ian Jacobs welcomed the new board members.
“I look forward to the contributions of George and Fiona, who bring not only a wealth of experience but a genuine love of books and reading,” he said.
“Established by the Council of UNSW in 1962, UNSW Press is now one of the oldest Australian-owned book publishers. It has weathered the challenges of digital disruption to become a dynamic and confident publisher tackling some of the big issues of our time.”
Chairman Professor Crossley, who joined the board in 2015, said UNSW Press continued to make a vital contribution to the intellectual and cultural development of Australia and beyond.
“A university press gives us global reach – our books travel far and wide in printed and digital formats and each new release contributes to intellectual and public debate,” he said.
“We have a Board and management team in place that is deeply engaged in these informed and lively conversations.”
Kathy Bail, chief executive of UNSW Press, said: “The vast experience of these new directors and their obvious passion for books and reading will strengthen the UNSW Press Board as we embark on some innovative projects in 2018.
“Significant development of the UNSW Bookshop on the Kensington campus in Sydney is underway and we will continue to invest in our high-quality list of general non-fiction and academic books by Australia’s top authors.
“Our creative and vibrant team always aims for excellence, recognised with some major book industry awards for publishing and bookselling, including the ABIA Small Publisher of the Year in 2016 and 2017 and Campus Bookseller of the Year in 2017.”