Full-Time Faculty
Manuela
Soares
Director
Prior to being named as Director in 2018, Soares had been a full-time faculty member in the MS in Publishing program since 2004. The courses she has taught include General Interest Books, Children’s Book Publishing, Marketing Principles and Practices, Entrepreneurship, and Ethics in Publishing. She also taught the Graduate Seminar, in which students write their Master’s thesis. She is on the Editorial Board of Publishing Research Quarterly, where many of the program’s thesis papers have been published in abbreviated form. Soares is also Director of Pace University Press, overseeing the publication of journals and books. In her over thirty-year career, Soares worked in both magazine and book publishing as a writer and editor, most recently as the Managing Editor at Scholastic, where she supervised the hardcover (and some paperback) imprints, including the first five Harry Potter books. Prior to that she was a Senior Editor at Rizzoli International, acquiring books in a variety of disciplines (fashion, design, cooking), but focusing mainly on art and photography.Jennifer
Romanello
Associate Director
Jennifer Romanello began her career in book publishing as a publicity assistant at Macmillan and its imprints, Scribner and Atheneum. She then moved on to Dutton, where she rose to Associate Director of Publicity and worked with a roster of critically acclaimed authors including Julia Alvarez, Joyce Carol Oates, and Jamaica Kincaid.
In 1995 she joined Warner Books, now Grand Central Publishing, an imprint of Hachette. She was VP, Executive Director of Publicity there for many years and worked with a wide range of bestselling authors including Nicholas Sparks, David Baldacci, Nelson DeMille, and Brad Meltzer, among others.
Jennifer has previously taught as an adjunct instructor in the undergraduate Publishing Studies program at Hofstra University. She recently completed her MFA in Creative Writing with Distinction from Hofstra University and her poems have been published in Ovunque Siamo and VIA: Voices in Italiana-Americana (forthcoming). Her poems “Omphalos” (2018) and “I terri” (2015) received first place in the Concorso Internationale di Poesia held in Messina, Sicily.
Eileen Bishop
Kreit
Lecturer
In August 2023, Eileen Kreit joined the Pace Publishing program as a full time faculty member and lecturer.
Eileen Bishop Kreit is a lifelong reader and book lover. She spent 32 years at Penguin Random House, joining the Putnam Berkley Publishing Group as Sales Assistant after graduating from the University of Massachusetts. After 15 years in sales leadership and management, Eileen moved to the editorial side as Vice President and Publisher of Puffin Books. Rising to President in in 2007, she worked with authors including S.E. Hinton, Judy Blume, Mildred D. Taylor, Laurie Halse Anderson, Sarah Dessen, the collective works of Roald Dahl, and the Puffin Classics publishing program. She published anniversary editions of The Westing Game; Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry; Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing; and the 50th anniversary edition of The Outsiders. In 2018, she transitioned to Vice President, Business Development, Viking Children’s Books and Philomel Books, where she expanded classic brands and created new publishing for legacy characters of the publishing industry including Corduroy, Madeline, Pippi Longstocking, Encyclopedia Brown, and many others. She is excited to share her knowledge, experience, and passion with her students, both as a Faculty Advisor and as a Professor, teaching Children’s Book Publishing, Fundamentals of Trade Book Publishing, and Publishing Strategies I and II.
Graduate Assistant and Student Aides
Chardonnae Simpson
Chardonnae Simpson is a Graduate Assistant for the Publishing office, starting her first semester in the MS in Publishing program. She is a passionate bibliophile and writer, born and raised in The Bronx. With a bachelor’s degree in English with a Creative Writing concentration obtained at SUNY New Paltz, she hopes to bring her zest for life and the power of relatable words to the Pace community and beyond. She loves to write poetry and hopes to fulfill her lifelong goal of becoming an author. She also aspires to work in media, and someday for an esteemed publishing company.
Oriana Galvis Marin
Oriana is a Student Aide for the Publishing office in her first semester of the program. She is an international student from Medellin, Colombia, whose dreams and passion for books made her move to the US to finish her undergraduate degree in English and pursue publishing. Her main interests range from writing, diversity in literature, books in translation, literary fiction, romance, and fantasy, among others. She hopes to join the industry in the editorial or subrights departments.
Faculty and Staff Bios
Debra Polansky Schor
Adjunct Lecturer
Debra Polansky Schor has worked in children’s book publishing for over 30 years. She has worked in sales, marketing, and publishing and currently is the VP, Children’s Sales Development, Director of Children’s Sales PRHPS at Penguin Random House. In her current job, Professor Polansky gets to work with all the client publishers, and she works on a daily basis with the team that sells the client books to the National Accounts. Professor Polansky is passionate about artwork, literacy, and helping students succeed.
Being an adjunct at Pace allows her to put all these passions together. Professor Polansky has a 25-year-old son, a 21-year-old daughter and she and her husband live with their black lab, Ozo, in Westchester, NY. When she is not working, teaching, or out with the dog she can be found skiing, doing yoga, working out, gardening, and her new favorite hobby, making pottery.
Sonny Regelman
Adjunct Lecturer
Sonny Regelman has been a publishing professional for nearly 30 years. She is a leader in editorial and product development and is passionate about sharing her experience with the next generation of publishing leaders. Currently, she is AVP, Content Development at Straive, which serves the educational publishing and ed tech markets. She holds an MBA from Texas State University, an MA in Writing and Publishing from Emerson College, and a BA in Communications from Ursinus College.
Sonny has been teaching writing courses for seven years. She is also a creative writer and has published poetry in such publications as Red River Review and Weaving the Terrain, an anthology of 100-word Southwestern poems from Dos Gatos Press.
Sonny lives in Austin, TX with her dog, Whiskey.
Jodie Cohen
Adjunct Lecturer
Jodie Cohen is a dynamic publishing industry executive who has held key marketing leadership positions at Scholastic, Penguin Random House, Highlights, and Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. While studying abroad at The University of Bologna, she interned at Giannino Stoppani, a children’s bookstore and publisher. After graduating from Dickinson College, she launched a 25-year career in publishing after responding to a NYT help wanted for Parachute Publishing.
Known for innovative strategies, building strong relationships, and fostering beneficial partnerships, Jodie has consistently driven audience engagement and sales. She has mentored new publishing professionals and is very excited to bring her expertise to Pace University teaching Business Communications. She looks forward to helping students master professional communications with ease.
When she’s not immersed in a good book, you’ll find Jodie running, gardening, exploring art galleries, volunteering, and sending handwritten notes accompanied by freshly baked treats.
Erin Cox
Adjunct Lecturer
Brian Young
Adjunct Lecturer
Brian Young is an alumnus of McGill University and currently serves as VP of IT Applications at Penguin Random House in New York. In his 20+ years of industry experience, Brian has held several positions up and down the corporate hierarchy in trade publishing technology as well as in the fields of EdTech, mobile app development, and natural language processing. In his work life, Brian is a continuous learner, an active and caring mentor, and an organizer and promoter of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. As an adjunct professor Brian brings to the MS in Publishing program a collaborative, customer-centric, process-oriented technology approach with both startup and big corporate experience. In his home life, Brian is a diligent dishwasher (and sometime cook), dogwalker, lunch maker, and homework helper.
Kelly O'Sullivan
Adjunct Lecturer
Kelly O’Sullivan is a seasoned writer, editor, and content strategist with over a decade of experience in the media industry. She has a degree in Magazine Journalism from Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and has held leadership roles at major companies like Hearst and Publisher’s Clearing House. Her expertise in audience development has been key to growing digital platforms and creating compelling content that resonates with diverse audiences. As a freelance writer and content strategist, Kelly also collaborates with brands like Forbes, Hearst, and Dotdash Meredith, developing editorial strategies and crafting stories that engage and inspire.
When she’s not immersed in content creation, you’ll likely find her enjoying the great outdoors with her dog, Sunny. Kelly is excited to join Pace University, where she’ll be teaching Audience Development and sharing her passion for storytelling and media with her students.
Jacqueline Hudson
Adjunct Lecturer
Jacqui, a Pace University MS in Publishing alumna, brings over a decade of hands-on experience in digital and print publishing, currently serving as Senior Manager of Digital Production at Workman Publishing, Hachette Book Group. There, she has spearheaded the creation of efficient ebook production workflows, developed CSS templates to reduce time-to-market, and implemented accessibility standards in compliance with WCAG 2.1 guidelines, improving digital content for readers with disabilities.
In addition to her role at Workman, Jacqui works as a freelance production designer focusing on middle-grade and young-adult print interiors and marketing materials. Her expertise spans digital content management, print design, and project leadership, backed by a strong foundation in Adobe Creative Suite, HTML/CSS, and other publishing technologies.
Todd Jones
Adjunct Lecturer
Todd Jones has been a book publishing sales professional for nearly 30 years beginning his career as a sales assistant with The Penguin Group (USA) in the early 1990s. Most recently he was VP Sales of Penguin Random House Kids for the Independent Bookstore and Library channels of distribution. He has been a part of growing the careers of many authors and illustrators including John Green, Jacqueline Woodson, Oliver Jeffers, Sabaa Tahir, Loren Long, and many more. His favorite book of all time is THE WESTING GAME by Ellen Raskin. He currently lives in Rockland County, NY with his wife, 2 kids, and a mildly anxious dog.
Irinia Grechko
Adjunct Lecturer
Irina Grechko is the Fashion Director at Refinery29, where she oversees style coverage across the site and social platforms. Over the last 13 years as a writer, print and digital editor, and stylist, she has covered fashion, beauty, and lifestyle at publications like NYLON, The Knot, Washingtonian, and People StyleWatch.
She graduated from Emerson College in Boston with a BS and BA in Journalism and Writing, Literature & Publishing. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Orlando Dos Reis
Adjunct Lecturer
Orlando is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing. Following his time at Virginia Tech, Dos Reis acquired a Master of Arts in children’s literature from Kansas State and attended the Denver Publishing Institute. He now works as a Senior Editor at Scholastic. Previously, he worked at Abrams and Bloomsbury.
David Hetherington
Adjunct Lecturer
Professor David Hetherington has been an important part of the Pace Publishing program since 1995 as an Advisory Board Member and as an adjunct professor.
He is currently the Vice President of Global Business Development at Books International Inc. He also serves as a board member for BISG and Pub West.
Deborah R. Shor
Adjunct Lecturer
Deb Shor is the Director of Inventory and Manufacturing at Oxford University Press. Earlier in her career she worked for a decade at the New York Times as a Graphic Editor.
Katie Todd
Adjunct Lecturer
A graduate of the MS in Publishing program, Katie Todd is the Director of Communications and Strategic Operations at the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information at Pace.
In addition to their role as Director, last year Katie was selected as an INvolve 2022 OUTstanding LGBT+ Future Leader and, recently, they have been added to NASA’s roster of diversity, equity, and inclusion professionals to participate on inclusion panels in the future.
Ken Brooks
Adjunct Lecturer
Professor Ken Brooks is president of Treadwell Media Group, a product development, supply chain and strategy consulting firm focused on the education and trade publishing sectors.
Professor Brooks holds bachelor and master’s degrees in Industrial Engineering and a master’s degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech, where he also mentors graduate students in Educational Technology.
Joseph Caserto
Adjunct Lecturer
Joseph earned a BFA with honors in Graphic Design from Pratt Institute, where he completed one of the first classes that covered the Mac as a design tool.
With over 25 years of professional experience, he is currently a freelance art director and designer whose clients have included Billboard, BusinessWeek, Fortune, Marie Claire, and Vibe magazines. He has won American Graphic Design Awards from GD USA magazine annually, since 2008, when he also received a Create Award. Joseph is a member of Freelancers Union and has been a member of AIGA, Graphic Artists Guild, and the Society of Publication Designers (SPD).
Joseph has taught at The City College of New York and NYU, and is a contributor to Udemy.com.
He is currently Contributing Creative Director of ADDitude magazine, published by New Hope Media.
Joseph was featured in our “Faculty in the Spotlight” series in March 2017.
Christine Ford
Adjunct Lecturer
She has been teaching for the MS in Publishing program since 2011 and will be teaching PUB 622J “Seminar on Books & Magazines: Practical Applications of Product Management in Digital Media” this summer with Professor Aaron Goldsmid. Professor Ford attended Chester College at Liverpool University in the United Kingdom and graduated from the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh in 1993 with a BA in English. She received her Master’s in Publishing at Pace University in 2000 and served as the Graduate Assistant at the Pace University Press while completing her education.
Vincent Forgione
Adjunct Lecturer
Paul Levitz
Adjunct Lecturer
Paul Levitz is a comic fan (The Comic Reader), editor (Batman, among many titles), writer (Legion of Super-Heroes, including four NY Times Best Sellers), executive (30 years at DC, ending as President & Publisher), historian (75 Years of DC Comics: The Art Of Modern Myth-Making and educator (including teaching a course on “The American Graphic Novel” at Columbia and Princeton, as well as “Transmedia & The Future of Publishing” in Pace’s M.S. in Publishing Program). He won two consecutive annual Comic Art Fan Awards for Best Fanzine, received Comic-con International’s Inkpot Award, the prestigious Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, and the Comics Industry Appreciation Award from ComicsPro. His Taschen book won the Eisner Award, the Eagle Award and Munich’s Peng Pris, and his most recent book is BROOKLYN BLOOD, illustrated by Tim Hamilton. Levitz also serves on the board of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and Boom! Studios.
The Pace Publishing Blog featured Levitz in the “Faculty in the Spotlight” series in February 2013 and another Spotlight article in April 2012.
Elena Mauer
Adjunct Lecturer
Thad McIlroy
Adjunct Lecturer
McIlroy is the author of An Authoritative Look at Book Publishing Startups in the United States (2017), The Metadata Handbook, 2nd Ed. (2015) (co-authored with Renee Register), and Mobile Strategies for Digital Publishing: A Practical Guide to the Evolving Landscape (2015). McIlroy is a consultant to a variety of publishing and media companies, including Disney, MIT Press, Microsoft, and Pearson. He served as Program Director for Seybold Seminars, the publishing industry’s premier technology conference, for five years.
Tina McIntyre
Adjunct Lecturer
Tina McIntyre has nearly 20 years of experience in trade marketing, digital marketing, publishing strategy, content development, and business development. Currently, she is VP, Marketing for Wattpad WEBTOON Studios. Previously, she was Senior Executive Director of Content Development at Hachette Book Group where she worked with all of Hachette’s publishing divisions to develop initiatives designed to generate revenue beyond the core publishing programs. In addition to building and overseeing the marketing department, she spearheaded all marketing efforts for The Twilight Saga, including the creation of thetwilightsaga.com—one of the first social networking sites created for a YA book series.
In 2011, Tina moved into the Young Readers publishing office as Executive Director, Digital Publishing and Operations, directing all digital publishing initiatives and business development. In 2014, her role was expanded to Executive Director, Strategic Planning; Digital Publisher where she led the NOVL digital imprint and the overarching operations and strategy for the division.
She started her publishing career at Scholastic where she worked on the paperback and digital marketing, for such bestselling properties as Captain Underpants, Animorphs, Goosebumps, and the PUSH teen paperback imprint.
Andrea Monfried
Adjunct Lecturer
For three decades, Andrea Monfried has been a highly regarded editor and publisher of books on architecture, art, and design. Before founding Andrea Monfried Editions, she worked at Monacelli Press, Rizzoli, and Images. Among the many books she has developed are S,M,L,XL by Rem Koolhaas and Bruce Mau; Towards a New Museum and Site and Sound: New Opera Houses and Concert Halls by Victoria Newhouse; Crossing Boundaries: A Global Vision of Design and Lifting the Curtain on Design by Vicente Wolf; John Yeon Architecture by Randy Gragg et al.; The Art Deco Murals of Hildreth Meière; and Happenings: New York, 1958–1963 by Millie Glimcher.
In 2012, she founded publishing consultancy Andrea Monfried Editions, using her experience and expertise to tailor every aspect of book publication to the author and subject matter. Working directly with authors, Andrea strives to facilitate all steps in the publishing process: organizing content and structure, preparing a proposal, meeting with publishers, negotiating contracts, guiding assembly of text and illustrations, collaborating with graphic designers, managing production, and advising on promotion.
Andrea is a graduate of Harvard College. She is a member of the Architectural League of New York and Open House New York, among other organizations. Andrea lives in New York City with her architect husband, their daughter, and hundreds of books.
Jessica Napp
Adjunct Lecturer
Kathleen Ortiz
Adjunct Lecturer
Kathleen Ortiz (she/her) founded KO Media Management in 2022, after working in publishing and international licensing for over a decade, including roles as Director of Translation, Subsidiary Rights Manager and Literary Agent. She earned her M.S. in Publishing from Pace University, and has spent her career helping build and elevate creative brands.
Patricia Payton
Adjunct Lecturer
Patricia Payton is a metadata expert with knowledge of bibliographic standards, identifiers, and data analysis. As Senior Manager, Provider Relations, for ProQuest, part of Clarivate, she is responsible communicating book and journal metadata requirements and best practices to publishers of all sizes.
Patricia has over 20 years of experience in bookselling, library eBook platforms, and international book markets. She holds a Masters degree in Library Information Science specializing in Digital Libraries (Rutgers University) as well as an MBA (Kent State University).
In addition to serving as an Adjunct Lecturer for Pace University, she works within the Book Industry Study Group and the Book Industry Communications organization to help shape industry metadata practices. She lives in New Jersey and enjoys reading non-fiction works.
James Perry
Adjunct Lecturer
Carl Potts
Adjunct Lecturer
For most of his 13 years at Marvel Entertainment, Carl was an Executive Editor, whose duties included spearheading Epic, Marvel’s imprint of diverse creator-owned titles.
He discovered and mentored top comics creators including Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, June Brigman, Scott Williams, Larry Stroman, Jon Bogdanov, Art Adams and Mike Mignola.
While at Marvel, Carl developed original and established entertainment properties. Some of these properties became cross media franchises, spawning numerous publications, games, licensed products, and dramatic productions.
When he should have been sleeping, Carl also wrote and drew comics, covers and posters. He created new entertainment IP and developed established IP for contemporary audiences.
Watson-Guptill/Random House published Carl’s book, The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics: Inside the Art of Visual Storytelling.
Peggy Samedi
Adjunct Lecturer
Kirsten Sandberg
Adjunct Lecturer
Professor Sandberg teaches PUB 618, “The Legal Aspects of Publishing,” and PUB 632, “Academic Publishing,” both from a publishing innovator’s perspective. She serves on the editorial advisory board of the Journal of Business Models, and periodically co-directs professional development programs for Chinese publishing executives.
For over a decade, she served as executive editor at Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation, where she contributed to the opening of HBSP Corp Ltd in Mumbai/New Delhi. Professor Sandberg also wrote over a dozen articles for various HBS periodicals. Prior to Harvard, Professor Sandberg spent eight years at HarperCollins, first in the college division as a development editor and a marketing R&D manager and then in HarperBusiness as an acquisitions editor.
She started her media career as a computer graphics designer in the newsroom of WEEK-TV, an NBC affiliate at the time. Professor Sandberg holds a B.A. in English and TV/Radio Production from Bradley University and started an M.A. in English at Marquette University. She is a Chicago Cubs fan by birth and a Yankees fan by naturalization.
Jason Wells
Adjunct Lecturer
Jason M. Wells is the Books Marketing Director at the American Psychological Association, where he and his team promote APA Books, APA Videos, APA Style, Life Tools, and Magination Press Children’s Books. Previously Jason worked for almost 15 years at Abrams, where he invented and maintained for over a decade the marketing and publicity activities for the bestselling Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, among other bestselling and award-winning titles. Jason has also held marketing and publicity roles at Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Disney, and Rodale. He lives in Washington, DC, has previously taught at the Columbia Publishing Course, and has a master’s degree in information science.
Veronica Viviana Wilson
Adjunct Lecturer
Veronica Wilson serves as National Digital Sales Director for PeopleEnEspañol.com, at Dotdash Meredith, where she is responsible for driving advertising revenue. Prior to People en Espanol she worked at The Nielsen Company, as Business Development Director from 2017-2019. She was Associate Publisher–Sales at Meredith Corporation from 2009-2017, for Latino focused lifestyle and parenthood brands, Associate Publisher–Sales at Conde Nast for the Bridal Group in 2008, and Time Inc./Essence from 1999-2008, where she last held the position of National Ad Sales Director.