The National Book Foundation has appointed three new members of the board of directors, bringing the board's total to 22. The new members are:
James Daunt, CEO of Barnes & Noble, who is also managing director of Waterstones and founder and owner of Daunt Books.
Amandeep Kochar, executive v-p and general manager of Baker & Taylor, responsible for B&T's public library sales, product & technology operations, customer service, content and strategic partnerships as well as the company's international subsidiaries in the U.K., Mexico and Australia, and Baker & Taylor Publisher Services. He also heads joint international sales and global technology operations for B&T and Follett School Solutions, the organization's pre K-12 business.
Kimball Hastings, v-p of global communications at Ralph Lauren, where he oversees luxury marketing and talent relations strategy. Earlier, he spent five years at Teen Vogue, first as online editor before becoming senior editor in the features department. He began his career at Harper's Bazaar, where he collaborated on the launch of the magazine's first website, then became online editor.
Board chairman David Steinberger said the trio "bring with them significant corporate leadership experience as well as a deep commitment to the written word."
Noting that "all of NBF's work is done with the aim to reach as many communities of readers as possible," executive director Lisa Lucas said that the new board members "will have valuable input on broadening the work of the Foundation, will work to secure additional resources for the organization, and can help spread the word about the Foundation's work to communities far and wide."