After more than 20 years at the helm of Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association, executive director Thom Chambliss will retire in February.
Joining PNBA in 1993 was “the best decision that I ever made,” said Chambliss, who is 67. “Being able to work for people who love the written word, and who go home to read every night, instead of to the bars to drink, has given my life so much more pleasure than I had hoped.”
Chambliss is leaving behind a stable association that will add money to its rainy day fund for the first time in a decade. “PNBA is in great shape,” said Chambliss. “It’s a good time for me to move on. The association will benefit from new leadership and will have a better chance of growing and offering more services in the hands of a younger, more energetic director.”
Before joining PNBA in 1993, Chambliss began his bookselling career as a part-time, temporary bookseller at the University of Oregon Bookstore in Eugene.
The PNBA board has already begun working on finding a replacement for the position and will post a description of the job shortly. Both executive assistant Larry West and marketing director Brian Juenemann have agreed to stay on staff for at least one more year.
Chambliss is the second long-time executive director to announce his retirement this year. In June Hut Landon at the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association said that he would leave. Calvin Crosby assumed the executive directorship during the NCIBA Discovery Show last month.
