Hall of Fame Portrait: Nelson B. Heller, Ph.D., Part 2

On December 3, 2009, AEP will induct Nelson B. Heller, Ph.D, MDR; Michael Ross, Encyclopaedia Britannica; and Pleasant Rowland, Rowland Reading Foundation and American Girl, into the Educational Publishing Hall of Fame. Here in his second installment, Nelson B. Heller, Ph.D., President, EdNET at MDR, discusses the greatest challenge he faced during his career and his proudest accomplishment.

What was the greatest challenge you faced in your career, and how did you handle it?

I suppose my greatest challenge was when, in late 1987, I lost my job at SFN and Scott, Foresman due to liquidation of our publicly traded parent company and the sale of its component companies to a host of information and publishing organizations. At 47 I found it impossible to match that job or salary in another publishing firm and reluctantly tried my hand at consulting.

AEP Honors Year’s Best Educational Products

AEP is pleased to announce the winners of the 2009 AEP Awards, recognizing the year’s most outstanding materials in the field of teaching and learning. The winners of this year’s Distinguished Achievement and Golden Lamp Awards were honored at special gala event Friday night at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

Hall of Fame Portrait: Michael Ross Part 2

On December 3, 2009, AEP will induct Nelson B. Heller, Ph.D., MDR; Michael Ross, Encyclopaedia Britannica; and Pleasant Rowland, Rowland Reading Foundation and American Girl into the Educational Publishing Hall of Fame. Here in his second installment, Michael Ross, Senior VP, Education General Manager for Encyclopaedia Britannica, discusses the greatest challenge he faced during his career and his proudest accomplishment.

What was the greatest challenge you faced in your career, and how did you handle it?

When my oldest daughter was four, her mother died suddenly. I was 36 years old, still very early in my career, and what was already a difficult job and huge responsibility—being a new father—now seemed like an impossible role to fill, alone, on top of the demands of my day job. As an editorial director for an educational publisher, I was required to travel, manage a team of in-house and freelance editors, meet budgets, train the sales force, and produce over 50 profitable titles a year. I couldn’t do all of that and take care of a young child who had just lost her mother, and I refused to compromise when it came to her comfort. So, in essence, I put my career on hold, traveled less, even turned down job offers that would have required me to move to other cities, and did what I could to fulfill my professional responsibilities while prioritizing my daughter’s needs.

AEP Awards Finalists Announced

AEP has announced the finalists for the 2009 AEP Awards. One of the largest and longest-running recognition programs in the industry, the AEP Awards give credit to the organizations who are leading the way in the field of educational resources and education marketing and set benchmarks to which the rest of the industry can aspire.

Key Principles for Publishing for the Digital Future

Over the past year experts in the educational publishing industry contributed to the AEP series, “Publishing for the Digital Future.” From trends in the classroom, to marketing and pricing strategies, to professional development in the new era, the series focused on highlighting actions that publishers could take now. Below is a list of action principles culled from the series. You can comment on any of the principles or read the entries in this blog under the category Publishing for the Digital Future.