The Strothman Agency

Wendy Strothman, who led the turnarounds of two venerable Boston publishers, Beacon Press and Houghton Mifflin's Trade & Reference Division, has 30 years of publishing experience.

As Executive Vice President and head of Houghton Mifflin's Trade & Reference Division from 1996 through July 2002, she turned an unprofitable division into one of the most profitable in the industry. Ms. Strothman oversaw all aspects of its business including editorial acquisitions, contracts, design, production and manufacturing, sales and marketing, fulfillment and finance.

Strothman's efforts to publish books at the highest standards led the company to receive more literary awards than at any time in its history: two Pulitzer Prizes, one National Book Award, three Caldecott Medals, and two Newbery Medals, among many other honors.

At Houghton Mifflin, Strothman also acquired and edited books by key authors, including James Carroll, Philip Roth, John Kenneth Galbraith, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., and Paul Theroux. She also vigorously pursued the defense in the lawsuit brought by the Margaret Mitchell estate to block publication of Alice Randall's The Wind Done Gone, a parody of Gone with the Wind.

From 1983 to 1995, Strothman headed Beacon Press, a Boston publisher founded in 1854. She led Beacon into new successes and prominence, publishing two New York Times bestsellers and one National Book Award winner.

Known as an advocate for authors and freedom of expression and as a friend to independent booksellers, Ms. Strothman has received numerous awards, including the Publisher of the Year Award from the New England Booksellers Association, the Person of the Year Award for "permanent and significant contributions to the book industry" from the Literary Market Place, the 1994 PEN New England "Friend to Writers" Award never before given to a publisher, and a Doctor of Humane Letters from Meadville Lombard Theological School, which is affiliated with the University of Chicago. She is a frequent speaker at industry, library, and university events.

Read a recent profile of Wendy Strothman in the Boston Globe.

Dan O'Connell has devised and executed marketing and publicity campaigns for small presses, mid-sized publishers, and trade houses.

As Assistant Publicity Director at Houghton Mifflin's Trade & Reference Division, he worked with a range of distinguished authors including PEN Faulkner Award winner John Edgar Wideman, Harvard psychologist Daniel Schacter, NBA finalist and science writer Steve Olson, National Book Award winner James Carroll, and award-winning psychologist Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela of the University of Cape Town. O'Connell devised brand-building campaigns for two of Houghton's most significant lines—The American Heritage® line of dictionaries and The Peterson Field Guides.

As Assistant Marketing Director at Beacon Press, O'Connell handled publicity campaigns for two national bestsellers, Cornel West's Race Matters and Marian Wright Edelman's The Measure of Our Success.

Before joining Beacon, O'Connell was Marketing Manager at Alyson Publications, the leading publisher of books for gay and lesbian readers. He began working in book publishing at The Brookings Institution in Washington DC where he handled subsidiary rights, among other marketing duties.