APA Board Bios

ERIC BARNETT, V.P. MEMBER COMMUNICATIONS
Eric is the Director of Sales and Marketing at Supporting Cast, where he helps publishers, authors, and podcasters sell their audiobooks and audio subscriptions directly to customers. Prior to that, Eric worked for Findaway, where he launched K-12 direct sales, worked with retail partners around the world, and oversaw the expansion of Findaway’s full-service audiobook production business, Audioworks.

ERIN BENNETT, V.P. VOICE TALENT COMMUNICATIONS
Erin Bennett is a Los Angeles-based actress whose passion for storytelling makes her a natural fit for audiobooks. Winner of multiple Earphones and Audie nominations, she narrated one of AudioFile’s “Best Audiobooks of 2016,” and has recorded over 450 titles. Her genres vary widely, and has been named by Audible, a "pied piper narrator. If she narrates, I listen!" She recently sang for First Lady Dr. Jill Biden in Washington, D.C. with her Andrews Sisters trio, The Harmony Dolls.

LORI BENTON
Lori Benton is the Vice President & Group Publisher for the Trade Publishing division of Scholastic Inc, and President of Scholastic Audio and Weston Woods. Lori oversees the direction as well as the digital strategy of the publishing program for all imprints of the Trade division, and all aspects of Scholastic Audio and Weston Woods.

LAUREN CANNAVINO
Lauren Cannavino is the Manager of the Publisher Account Services team at OverDrive. Lauren serves on the APA Board of Directors, EBMA Board of Directors and has her MA in English from Cleveland State University. At OverDrive, Lauren manages large independents, audiobook, children’s and educational publishers.

MICHELE COBB, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Michele served on the board from 2001, as a director and officer, becoming Executive Director in 2015. She is a partner in Forté Business Consulting, which provides PR, Sales, Marketing, and Business Development services for the publishing industry.

DANIELLE D’ORLANDO, SECRETARY
Danielle D'Orlando is the Curator of Audio at Princeton University Press, home to the first in-house university press audiobook division: Princeton Audio. She spent much of her career at Yale University Press where she spearheaded their audio program, including the development of Yale Press Audio.

ANA MARIA ALLESSI
Ana Maria, VP, Publisher of Hachette Audio, is an industry veteran with over 20 years of audiobook and digital content publishing and business development experience. Ana Maria spent most of her career at HarperCollinsPublishers, working as the audiobook publisher and also VP Publisher of Harper Media, and VP Digital Innovation. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.

SAMANTHA EDELSON, VICE-PRESIDENT
Samantha is the Vice President of Marketing at Macmillan Audio where she has worked for the past thirteen years. She oversees all of the marketing and publicity as well as relationships with digital retailers.

HEATHER FAIN
Heather Fain is the COO at Pushkin Industries, where she oversees marketing, operations, engineering, and people operations, working on podcasts such as Revisionist History, The Happiness Lab with Dr Laurie Santos, Lost Hills, and Against the Rules with Michael Lewis as well as audiobooks like Miracle and Wonder (Malcolm Gladwell and Paul Simon). She is the former SVP of Marketing Strategy at Hachette Book Group. She lives in New York City.

LAURA GACHKO
Laura Gachko is Vice President of Content at RBmedia, the largest independent audiobook publisher in the world. As VP of Content at RBmedia, Laura oversees the acquisition activity for the RB, HighBridge, and Ascent imprints.

VICTORIA GERKEN
Victoria is Publisher and Head of Acquisitions at Podium, the eighth largest audiobook publisher in North America, where she manages a rock-star-level acquisitions and author relations team.

LEE JARIT, TREASURER
Lee Jarit is Head of ACX and US Publisher Partnerships at Audible. He joined Audible over a decade ago and has held numerous positions within the company across business affairs and content and publisher partnerships. In his current role, Lee collaborates with independent creators and audio publishers, large and small, to ensure that their recordings are made available to millions of Audible listeners around the world. To date Lee has listened to over 500 audiobooks.

SEAN MCMANUS, PRESIDENT
Sean McManus has been a part of the audiobook industry for close to 15 years. He has held posts at Audible, HarperCollins, Spotify & Scholastic. He is currently the President & Publisher of Dreamscape Media, LLC.

AMY METSCH
Amy Metsch is Associate Publisher and Director of Audio Programming at Spiegel & Grau, and was formerly Vice President, Associate Publisher, and Editorial Director of the Penguin Random House Audio. She has worked in the audiobook industry for 19 years and in publishing since 1991.

COLLEEN PRENDERGAST
Colleen Prendergast is the Associate Director of Licensing at Spotify, where she currently leads the company's audiobook publishing division. Previously, she oversaw the audiobook publishing and international content strategy for Findaway. She has worked in the publishing industry for more than 10 years.

DAN ZITT
Dan Zitt is Senior V.P. of Content Production for Penguin Random House Audio US and has spent his 23-year career in the audiobook industry. Dan has produced over 2,000 audiobooks, including 20 Grammy Award nominees and 3 winners. He is the creator of casting site Ahab.us and leads a team that produces 1,600+ audiobooks a year.