Kristen McLean

I’m the ringleader of Bookigee, an innovative tech startup for the publishing industry that explodes the idea of discovery in every direction through its visualizing interface and powerful analytics. It's pretty cool. • From 2005-2010, I was the Executive Director of the Association of Booksellers for Children (ABC), a non-profit trade association that networks the children’s book industry. Under my leadership, ABC merged with the American Booksellers Association (ABA) in 2011, where its work continues. • Before joining ABC in 2005, I spent twelve years in the children’s book and toy industry in various roles including retailing, merchandising, buying, sales, and trade marketing for a major publisher. • I’m a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College (class of 1990), and I’ve done some work on an M.F.A. in Industrial Design at Massachusetts College of Art and Design. I love consumer psychology and great design. • I’m also deeply interested in the confluence of emerging literacies, education, technology, and publishing in the 21st Century, and I do a lot of public speaking on those subjects at a wide range of conferences including Digital Book World, the Winter Institute of the American Booksellers Association, The Digital Publishing Conference of the City University of London, UK, O’Reilly Tools of Change, and Book Expo America (BEA). • I’m the project editor for Bowker Pubtrack’s biannual The Children’s Book Consumer in the Digital Age study which is underwritten by a number of major US Publishers. • When I’m not fundraising, reading, writing, or presenting, I’m prowling around the streets of Miami in search of adventure and a great cup of coffee.