3/27/2006 -- LaVergne, TN. Lightning Source Inc. a division of Ingram Industries and the leading provider of demand-based book manufacturing and distribution solutions to the book industry, today named David Taylor as the new Senior Vice President, Global Sales.
"We are delighted that David Taylor is leading the expansion and development of our global sales and marketing teams," said J. Kirby Best, President and CEO of Lightning Source Inc. "Lightning Source's global presence is growing, and we are confident David is the person to take us into the future as we develop new products and services. His professionalism and extensive industry knowledge is key to communicating with our publisher and distribution partners."
It's a great privilege to be given the opportunity to pull together a genuinely global sales and marketing function for Lightning Source," Mr. Taylor commented. "We need to engage ever more closely with our publishers to ensure that we understand their needs and are fitting our offer to meet those needs. This increasingly means that we need a single approach rather than a separate US and UK approach. This new role is all about doing just that."
Mr. Taylor will be based in both the UK and US offices and will divide his time between the two sites. Mr. Taylor will retain his position as Managing Director of Lightning Source UK.
About Mr. Taylor
David Taylor joined Lightning Source UK in June 2003 as Business Development Director and was named Managing Director in December 2003. He has over 20 years of experience in the UK and international book trades in a wide variety of roles, covering retail bookselling, international library book and journal supply and internet bookselling.
Before joining Lightning Source, he co-founded Swotbooks.com Ltd, a niche online company selling paper books and e-books to the academic community. Swotbooks was shortlisted for a British Book Trade award for innovation in 2002 and was also the subject of a number of best practice case studies.
Mr. Taylor is also a previous director of Blackwell's Book Services, the international library supply company based in Oxford. He has been actively involved in the UK bookselling trade association and is both a previous Chairman of the College and University Booksellers group and the Internet Booksellers group, the latter of which he helped to found; he also served on the UK and Irish Booksellers' Association Council for nine years. He is a regular speaker at industry conferences and has also published a number of articles on the impact that new technologies have had on the book trade supply chain.
Mr. Taylor was born and bred in Wolverhampton, England, and refuses to support any soccer team other than the Wolves.
He holds two degrees in English Literature from the University of Reading, England and has also completed a Diploma in Management Studies and an MBA. He is an avid reader and book collector and a perhaps less avid cyclist. David is married with two sons and lives in Oxfordshire.
About Lightning Source Inc
Lightning Source Inc., a subsidiary of Ingram Industries Inc., provides a comprehensive suite of demand-driven publishing solutions for publishers. The company is revolutionizing the options available to the industry in the storage, management, and distribution of digital content. Lightning Source stores books and other information electronically and delivers them "on demand" in either traditional printed format or as e-Books in response to orders from booksellers, librarians, and publishers. Lightning Source represents more than 3,500 publishers around the world. For more information, visit our website at www.lightningsource.com.
The Lightning Source name, corresponding logos, taglines and other service marks identifying Lightning Source and its services are the proprietary marks of Lightning Source Inc. and must be represented accordingly. Other products and company names mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
