Michael Pietsch

Michael Pietsch is Chief Executive Officer of Hachette Book Group, which comprises seven publishing groups – Grand Central Publishing, Hachette Nashville, Little, Brown, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Orbit, Perseus Books, and Workman Publishing. HBG is the U.S. division of Hachette Livre, the world’s third-largest publisher of trade and educational books. As CEO, Michael has overseen the acquisitions of Workman Publishing, Perseus Books, Black Dog & Leventhal, and Hyperion Books during a period of growth and transformation for HBG.

Earlier in his 40-year publishing career, as Publisher at Little, Brown and in editorial positions at Crown and Scribner, Pietsch published books by acclaimed writers including Michael Connelly, Malcolm Gladwell, Peter Guralnick, Stephenie Meyer, Walter Mosley, James Patterson, Keith Richards, J.K. Rowling, Stacy Schiff, David Sedaris, Donna Tartt, David Foster Wallace, and Malala Yousafzai. He continues to edit select books, and his passion for the close partnership between writers and publishers is the foundation of his approach as CEO.

Michael serves on the boards of PEN America and Poets & Writers, and is currently serving as Chairman of the Association of American Publishers. He attended Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk, Virginia, and Harvard College. He and his wife, Janet Vultee Pietsch, a children’s book editor, have three children and live north of NYC.