Crown Currency

Gillian Blake is Executive Vice President, Publisher, and Editor in Chief of Crown and Crown Currency. Previously she was Editor in Chief at Henry Holt. She acquires and edits select titles with a focus on narrative nonfiction, history, memoir, science, current events, popular culture, and biography. She has edited many prizewinning and bestselling authors, including President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama, Matthew McConaughey, Rachel Maddow, Ina Garten, Elizabeth Kolbert, Rick Atkinson, Tina Brown, Naomi Watts, Susan Cain, Senator Bernie Sanders, Dame Jacinda Ardern, Gretchen Rubin, Warren Zanes, Andy Cohen, Stephen Johnson, Ethan Kross, Ian McGuire, A. J. Jacobs, Ai Weiwei,  Jaron Lanier, Brandi Carlile, Lucinda Williams, Elton John, Rob Lowe, Adrian Nicole Leblanc, Anthony Doerr, William Boyd, and Harold Bloom. 

Annsley Rosner is Senior Vice President and Deputy Publisher of Crown and Crown Currency. As Deputy Publisher, she works on all aspects of the Crown and Crown Currency programs, overseeing frontlist and backlist strategy and operations, to launch books, position them in the marketplace, and set them up for long-term success. She works closely with cross-functional teams in editorial, marketing, publicity, sales, consumer insights, and inventory to create impactful, innovative campaigns. Annsley has been at Penguin Random House for more than twenty-three years—with prior positions including senior publicity roles at Crown, Dutton, and Vintage Books—and has worked with a wide range of bestselling authors including former President George W. Bush, former President Barack Obama, Erik Larson, Matthew Desmond, former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Ben Macintyre, Gillian Flynn, Sally Rooney, Rebecca Skloot, Liane Moriarty, and Chris Whitaker, among many others.

Paul Whitlatch, Vice President and Editorial Director, joined Crown in 2019 and became the Editorial Director of Crown Currency in 2024. He oversees the Crown Currency list, which encompasses books about business, technology, and personal success, and also acquires select titles for the Crown list, mainly in the areas of current events and history. Paul has edited and published successful books across a wide variety of subjects but is particularly drawn to reported narratives with a strong point of view, argument-driven books that help explain our world, and books that sharpen your thinking and productivity. Recently highlights include The Coming Wave by artificial intelligence pioneer Mustafa Suleyman, which has sold more than a quarter-million copies; the #1 New York Times bestseller The Technological Republic by Palantir CEO Alex Karp; the investigative crypto book Number Go Up by journalist Zeke Faux; and the finance memoir The Trading Game by YouTube economist Gary Stevenson. Enduring bestsellers acquired by Paul include Code Girls by Liza Mundy and Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope. His pipeline includes books by imprisoned journalist Evan Gershkovich, on Russia; Wall Street Journal columnist Christopher Mims, on mastering AI at work; legal podcaster Sarah Isgur, on the Supreme Court; Substack writer Adam Mastroianni, on science and human progress; venture capitalist Bill Gurley, on how to find a career you love; entrepreneur Marc Lore, on his theory of exponential risk; economist Kyla Scanlon, on Gen Z; the Earn Your Leisure podcasting duo, on how to “get rich with relationships”; Bloomberg writer Lucas Shaw, on the history of Netflix; London Business School professor Alex Edmans, on how to outsmart the markets; happiness expert Robin Sharma, on how to be defiantly human in the age of AI; and Atlantic staff writer Kaitlyn Tiffany, on a forgotten story of trailblazing women in the 1960s.

Lydia Yadi, Executive Editor, joined Crown in 2025 after holding positions at Portfolio and PRH UK. She acquires for the Crown and Crown Currency lists, focusing on health, psychology, big ideas, business, self-help, and autobiography. She is interested in books that help us understand ourselves and the world around us and is drawn to argument-driven books, practical guides that solve the reader’s problem, and inspiring stories of success. Over the last decade, she has worked with world-class academics, award-winning journalists, pioneering doctors, thought leaders, entrepreneurs, and psychologists including Simon Sinek, Marie Forleo, Cal Newport, Anastasia Soare, Dr. Louise Newson, and Steven Bartlett. Previous highlights include the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers Slow Productivity by Cal Newport, The Diary of a CEO by Steven Bartlett, and Wild Courage by Jenny Wood. Her upcoming Crown authors include psychologist Lindsay C. Gibson, entrepreneur George Mack, dentist Dr. Staci Whitman, and social philosopher Roman Krznaric.

Ashley Hong is an Editor at Crown Currency, where she focuses on nonfiction that transforms how we work, lead, and live. She is interested in books that fuel self-efficacy and principled living—from business books steeped in practical wisdom to personal development that helps ambitious readers find their way amid chaos. She is especially excited about projects written by authors of the global majority. Before joining Crown Currency, she was a literary agent at Gardner Literary, where she worked with authors Eli Harwood, Alexis Barber, Benjamin Cremer, and Ayana Lage. She was previously an editor at Convergent, where she acquired and edited the New York Times bestselling A Rhythm of Prayer by Sarah Bessey and This Here Flesh by Cole Arthur Riley.

Amy Li, Associate Editor at Crown and Crown Currency, joined the team in 2021 from McGraw-Hill Business, where she edited Erica Keswin’s Wall Street Journal bestsellers Bring Your Human to Work and Rituals Roadmap. At Crown, she’s had the immense pleasure of working with New York Times bestselling authors including Michelle Obama, Rachel Maddow, Ben Macintyre, Johann Hari, Tina Brown, and the hosts of the Earn Your Leisure podcast, among others. She is passionate about publishing diverse voices and is drawn to books that make us think about the way we live in a different way, whether it’s in how we view our society or how we navigate our lives in and out of the workplace. She is interested in narrative-driven works that have something to say about the world in the areas of current affairs, cultural criticism, social justice (especially Asian American issues), social science, investigative journalism, memoir, history, and politics, as well as big idea books by thought leaders in business and personal success titles that shares insightful and practical wisdom on how to improve our day-to-day at work and beyond. Her authors include Kaila Yu, Liz Tran, Fran Hauser, and Alia Dastagir.

Coalter Palmer, an Editorial Assistant at Crown and Crown Currency, joined the team in April 2025. He assists Crown Currency Editorial Director Paul Whitlatch and Crown/Crown Currency Executive Editor Lydia Yadi on titles across a wide range of nonfiction genres, including technology, politics, business, health, memoir, and more. Book projects he has assisted on include upcoming titles by Wall Street Journal technology columnist Christopher Mims, legal podcaster Sarah Isgur, and The Atlantic writer Kaitlyn Tiffany. Coming to PRH from a journalism background, he is especially passionate about investigative books that drive national conversations and policy change.

Michelle Giuseffi, Associate Director, Publishing, oversees various operational processes for frontlist and backlist titles on the Crown and Crown Currency lists. Michelle also works closely with our sales team and external retail partners on B2B strategy for both imprints. In collaboration with the inventory team, Michelle helps to make sure Crown and Crown Currency books remain in stock and ready for readers to enjoy. Previously, she worked in marketing at the Penguin Publishing Group.

Christopher Brand is Vice President and Creative Director at Crown. He graduated from the School of Visual Arts in 2007 and has worked at Penguin Random House since 2008. His design work has been recognized by the Art Directors Club, AIGA, Type Directors Club, AI-AP, PRINT magazine, and the New York Times.

Tara Gilbride is Director of Marketing and Publicity, Crown Currency, where she oversees all aspects of the promotional process and leads an integrated marketing and publicity team. For more than two decades, she has spearheaded and helped shape bestselling campaigns for some of the most influential voices in business, leadership, and culture including for Simon Sinek, Indra Nooyi, Deepak Chopra, Ryan Holiday, Reid Hoffman, Eric Ries, Annie Duke, and Katy Milkman, among many others. She previously served as Vice President, Associate Publisher, for the Portfolio, Sentinel, and Optimism imprints, and later guided media and brand strategy for the Penguin Publishing Group backlist team. At Crown Currency, she is leading the campaign for the highly anticipated The Seven Rules of Trust by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, as well as for forthcoming books from Christopher Mims, Beth Pinsker, Liz Tran, and Bill Gurley.

Rachel Berkowitz is Vice President and Director of Subsidiary Rights at the Crown Publishing Group, where she oversees domestic and foreign rights across all imprints. Rachel brings expertise in licensing across categories such as business, science, history, memoir, narrative nonfiction, self-help, cookery, gift, and both commercial and literary fiction. Since joining Crown in 2009, she has negotiated rights deals for a wide range of bestselling and influential authors, including Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, George W. Bush, Deepak Chopra, Ai Weiwei, Greg McKeown, Martha Stewart, Matty Matheson, Peter Attia, Gillian Flynn, Andy Weir, and the forthcoming Empyrean Graphic series by Rebecca Yarros. She and the rights team also represent CPG at major international book fairs. Prior to joining Crown, she was a literary book and film scout for more than a decade.