Watson-Guptill

Aaron Wehner is Executive Vice President and Director of Business Development for the Crown Publishing Group, and Publisher of Clarkson Potter and Ten Speed Press. During his time in the Crown group, he has served as publishing lead on the acquisition and integration of Rodale Books and Compendium, co-founded the award-winning digital publication PUNCH (sold to Vox in 2021), launched the division’s illustrated licensing business, founded Ten Speed Graphic—the first dedicated adult graphic novel program within Penguin Random House—and launched Crown’s children’s imprint, Ten Speed Young Readers. Aaron oversees the publishing programs of such luminaries and brands as Ina Garten, Yotam Ottolenghi, Martha Stewart, Dolly Parton, Matty Matheson, Marie Kondo, Bryant Terry, Death & Co, and Dungeons & Dragons. On the executive team of Crown, he works closely with the group to shape ambitious, cross-imprint, and multi-book collaborations with the division’s incredible roster of authors.

Jill Flaxman, Senior Vice President and Deputy Publisher of Clarkson Potter and Ten Speed Press, oversees frontlist strategy and operations for the Potter and Ten Speed book programs. Prior to this role, her nearly thirty years at Penguin Random House have included six years as Director of Publishing Operations for the Crown Publishing Group, three years as Executive Director of Marketing for the group, and six years as Group Sales Director. She has worked on bestselling books from authors such as Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, George W. Bush, Ina Garten, Gillian Flynn, Deepak Chopra, Yotam Ottolenghi, and Marie Kondo, among many others. 

Molly Birnbaum joined Ten Speed Press in 2022 as Vice President and Editor in Chief. She is passionate about authority-driven, beautifully crafted books in cooking and lifestyle, as well as prescriptive titles that give readers tools for personal growth, interpersonal connection, and cultural conversation. Her list includes acclaimed authors such as Meredith Hayden, Yotam Ottolenghi, Elizabeth Kolbert, Sami Tamimi, Vaughn Vreeland, Pim Techamuanvivit, Jim Meehan, and Luisa Weiss, among others. She also collaborates with beloved brands such as New York Times Cooking, Rebel Girls, and Tupperware to publish books that bring their unique voices to life. (She’ll also never say no to a touch of whimsy—see Sticks by Logan Jugler and Boone Hogg.) Before joining Ten Speed, Molly spent more than a decade at America’s Test Kitchen, where she published award-winning cookbooks and helped lead innovative programs across digital, print, and audio for both adults and kids. She is also the author of Season to Taste: How I Lost My Sense of Smell and Found My Way (Ecco, 2011), a memoir nominated for an IACP award.

Kaitlin Ketchum (she/they), Editorial Director of Art, Graphic, and Popular Culture, specializes in illustrated books for adults, prescriptive nonfiction titles, gift and photography books, and graphic novels. She is particularly interested in books on art, culture, science, nature, history, lifestyle, self-improvement, and social justice, and leads the Ten Speed Graphic imprint. She has acquired and edited Eisner Award and NAACP Image Award–winning books as well as ten New York Times bestsellers, including the cultural phenomenon Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky, the smash hit How to Win at Chess by Levy Rozman, and the Carnegie Medal–nominated Project 562: Changing the Way We See Native America by Matika Wilbur. Other notable titles include Zodiac by Ai Weiwei, Champion by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Raymond Obstfeld, Washing My Mother’s Body by Joy Harjo, Demystifying Disability by Emily Ladau, We Are Everywhere by Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown, What We See in the Stars by Kelsey Oseid, and Read This to Get Smarter by Blair Imani. Among other projects, she is currently at work on graphic novel adaptations of Rebecca Yarros’s bestselling Fourth Wing series.

Kelly Booth is the Creative Director at Ten Speed Press, where she oversees a multi–award-winning team of designers. She has shaped the look of more than five hundred titles during her twenty-plus-year career and is recognized across the publishing industry for her ability to merge striking, design-forward aesthetics with a deeply collaborative creative process. At Ten Speed Press, she has led the design of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including There and Back by Jimmy Chin, Project 562 by Matika Wilbur, and the official Dungeons & Dragons Heroes’ Feast series of cookbooks. Her work also includes celebrated collaborations with U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo and artist Dana Tiger on Washing My Mother’s Body, and with fantasy illustrator Yoshi Yoshitani on Beneath the Moon. An artist herself, she has held residencies at Joshua Tree National Park, Cape Cod National Seashore, and Château d’Orquevaux in France, and her work has been exhibited at venues like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she continues to mentor and champion emerging design talent and scouts new voices and visual trends that push the possibilities of illustrated publishing. Most of all, Kelly’s passion lies in the collaborative act of bookmaking—helping authors, photographers, and artists articulate their stories and bring their worlds to life on the page.

Allison Renzulli is the Vice President and Director of Marketing for Clarkson Potter and Ten Speed Press. She has worked in lifestyle publishing for nearly twenty years and has developed, executed, and managed campaigns for dozens of bestselling authors, including Ina Garten, Martha Stewart, Matty Matheson, Alison Roman, Dolly Parton, David Chang, Yotam Ottolenghi, Amber Lewis, and more.

Katherine Tyler is Vice President and Director of Publicity and Brand Management, overseeing the publicity team for the Clarkson Potter, Ten Speed Press, Ten Speed Graphic, Ten Speed Young Readers, and 4 Color Books imprints. A twenty-year veteran of Penguin Random House, she has launched bestsellers across multiple categories from authors including Ina Garten, Martha Stewart, Yotam Ottolenghi, Dolly Parton, Sarah Fennel, Alison Roman, David Chang, Julius Roberts, Jimmy Chin, Meredith Hayden, the New York Times, Michelle Obama, and many more.

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.