In the weeks running up to Conference which will be held on Thursday 30th June and Friday 1st July, PANZ News will be spotlighting speakers in each issue. This week we are pleased to highlight our key note opening and closing speakers: Jo Lusby, Managing Director of Penguin Random House (North Asia) and Kathy Hurley, CEO of Girls Thinking Global.
Jo Lusby will be beginning the conference with the opening key note Small Beginnings, Big Markets and she will be a panellist for the workshop Channels to Export Markets. Jo joined the company that is now Penguin Random House in 2005, and has established offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Seoul.
She oversees local publishing in the English, Chinese, and Korean languages, as well as the sale of imported books from the US and UK from her base in Hong Kong.
Jo was responsible for publishing a market-leading list of books on and from China in English, including Frog by Nobel Laureate Mo Yan, Midnight in Peking by Paul French, Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong, and Massage by Bi Feiyu. In the Chinese language, Penguin Random House co-publishes major names such as celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and tennis sensation Li Na, as well as global brands such as the Penguin Classics, Peter Rabbit, Ladybird, and Peppa Pig.
A prominent member of the China’s creative business community, Jo is a regular public speaker on a range of subjects including digital transformation, brand and marketing, and regulatory issues for media companies.
Prior to joining Penguin Random House, Jo spent five years with Swiss publishing group Ringier, working as editor-in-chief of English language magazines and custom publishing. Originally from the UK, she has lived in Asia for twenty years. She currently works to support PEN Myanmar on projects in Yangon, is an advisor to the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, and a board member of the China-Britain Business Council, as well as a PADI Scuba Dive Master.
Kathy Hurley will be closing the conference with the final key note Leadership and Diversity and she will be joining Emma House of the UK Publishers Association for the workshop Transitioning Content from Print to Digital.
Kathy is a 40+ year veteran of the education industry. In December 2014 Kathy retired from Pearson where she spent ten years and served as Executive Vice President Education Alliances, for the Pearson Foundation. She remains active in the education industry as a consultant, sharing her wealth of knowledge in both publishing and technology with companies, non-profits and associations. In her spare time Kathy is busy preparing her next speech or connecting people to support the vision of global education for all.
Throughout her career in the education industry Kathy has served in top positions in both publishing and technology companies, which includes executive positions with Pearson and IBM. She utilizes her expertise in education policy, sales, marketing and business development to help further the work of top businesses, executive level customers, associations and foundations.
Kathy is based in Washington, D.C., where she works closely with education associations. Her work throughout the years with various businesses and organizations has taken Kathy around the world and into countries such as, India, Australia, Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, France, Finland, Argentina, Indonesia, and Cuba.
She is sought after to speak and participate as a thought leader and her global commitment and wealth of knowledge helps organizations develop new and innovative approaches to education. In 2013, Kathy was selected as a Fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) at Harvard University for 2014. Upon completing the ALI at Harvard, Kathy co-founded a global non-profit organization called Girls Thinking Global, which has as its mission to connect global change makers to educate and empower adolescent girls around the world.
