Susan Walker, executive director of the Midwest Booksellers Association for the past 23 years, the longest-serving director of any of the regional bookseller associations, announced in a letter sent to MBA members Sunday that she is resigning her position, as of January 2011. Walker is moving to her native North Carolina by the end of January to care for her elderly parents in the Charlotte area. She told PW that she is not retiring and intends to remain in the book industry, but will be looking for a more flexible job or undertaking projects on a freelance basis.
Walker, who informed the MBA board during their June 8-9 meeting of her resignation, stated in her letter to members that the MBA board of directors is hoping to hire her successor “by mid-fall,” though the new executive director will not assume his or her duties until January. There will be some overlap between the outgoing and incoming directors to provide for a smooth transition.
The seven-member MBA board, comprised of five booksellers and two publishers’s reps, will interview their top candidates in person during the annual trade show in St. Paul, Minn., Oct. 1-2. The hiring process is being headed by bookseller Chris Livingston, the owner of the Bookshelf in Winona, Minn. and president of MBA’s board.
Walker worked in both publishing and bookselling in New York City and in the Twin Cities before being hired on a part-time contractor basis in 1987 to run what was then called the Upper Midwest Booksellers Association. Walker, who became a full-time employee of the organization in the early ‘90s, counts among her greatest successes the steady growth, continuing financial stability, and innovative programming implemented by the organization during her 23-year tenure. There are more than 200 members of MBA currently; at its peak in the mid-1990s, more than 300 booksellers belonged to the organization. In 2006, MBA launched its Midwest Connections regional book marketing and author promotion program and its Midwest Booksellers’s Choice awards program. This past year, it launched a book program on a Twin Cities television station.
The Midwest Booksellers Association is comprised of independent booksellers in North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, and Missouri. It was founded in 1981. MBA’s headquarters are located in Minneapolis and will remain there.
The full job description for the MBA executive director position can be found at http://www.midwestbooksellers.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/MBA-Executive-Director-Ad-Posting.pdf. The deadline for acceptance of resumes is Aug. 15, 2010.
