Board of Directors

Kofi Appenteng is the President of the Greentree Foundation. Founded in 1982, Greentree Foundation is a philanthropic nonprofit organization established by Betsey Cushing Roosevelt, the former daughter-in-law of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, stewarding 408 acres of land in its commitment to peace, philanthropy, and sustainability. It is also committed to causes such as international justice and human rights issues, hosting events for the United Nations by providing its facilities for UN use, and accommodating visiting dignitaries. Among their programs for climate change mitigation and water protection, they also have staff dedicated to land management and grassland restoration; that includes managing invasive species with a unique canopy-gap strategy. 

Previously, Appenteng served as president of the Africa-America Institute (AAI), a premier U.S.-based organization dedicated to bridging Africa and America to catalyze a more sustainable and equitable world. 

Johanna V. Castillo is a senior agent at Writers House literary agency. Previously, she worked at Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, where she was vice president and executive editor and editorial director of Atria Español.

Allison Davis has a long career as a television and non-profit executive. Currently, she is the founder of a video production company that produces documentaries and virtual events.

Sanyu Dillon is president of the Random House Publishing Group, where she oversees imprints Random House, The Dial Press, Hogarth, The Modern Library, One World, Ballantine Bantam Dell/Delacorte, Random House Worlds, Harmony/Rodale, Convergent, and WaterBrook & Multnomah. An incisive and inclusive leader guided by future-oriented thinking and a deep passion for creative storytelling, she began her PRH career at Random House in 2004 as director of marketing for the Random House imprint. She held successive marketing roles over the next fourteen years, bringing an empathetic approach centered on a deep understanding of the evolving needs of readers. Dillon moved to corporate marketing in 2018, and in 2020 she became chief marketing officer, helping the company connect with its readers through dynamic storytelling and breakthrough campaigns. She is a member of the Penguin Random House U.S. Board and has an executive MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.

Alexandra Engler has worked in finance for more than fifteen years, with a strong interest in alternative investments. Most recently she was a senior analyst at Diameter Capital Partners, where she invested across industries, including energy, power, autos, transportation, logistics, gaming, sovereigns, industrials, and municipalities. 

Kassie Evashevski is the co-head of media rights at Anonymous Content. Previously, she was a partner at the United Talent Agency, where she was co-head of the books department. Her career has taken her to Brillstein Entertainment Partners, Writers House, and Random House.

Elliot Figman came to Poets & Writers as a volunteer in 1977; in 1981 he became the executive director. Elliot retired as P&W’s executive director at the end of 2020. He led Poets & Writers for nearly four decades, overseeing the launch of Poets & Writers Magazine and pw.org, among other significant initiatives. An accomplished poet, his book, Big Spring, was published by Four Way Books in 2003; his chapbook, Interior Whistle, was published in 2017 by Green Zone Press.

Terrance G. Finley is the chief executive officer of Books-A-Million Inc., the nation’s second largest bookstore chain operating 220 stores in thirty-two states. A veteran of the book industry for over forty years, Mr. Finley began his career as a book buyer at Rich’s Department Store in Atlanta, Georgia. He has been an enthusiastic supporter of Poets & Writers, including as chair of the organization’s annual gala in 2023.

A.M. Homes’ most recent book is The Unfolding (Viking Press/Penguin Random House, 2022). Previous titles include Days of Awe, May We Be Forgiven, This Book Will Save Your Life, Music for Torching, The End of Alice, In a Country of Mothers, Jack, Things You Should Know, The Safety of Objects, and the best-selling memoir, The Mistress’s Daughter. Her opera, RISE, debuted at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 2022. She teaches at Princeton University and sits on the Council of the Writers Guild of America East.

Kimberly Jackson worked in direct marketing for an educational publishing company before moving abroad to produce country-based economic reports for an international press agency. She lived and worked in many different countries, ultimately managing teams across the globe. After completing clinical studies in classical Chinese medicine, she attended Columbia University where she earned a master’s degree in narrative medicine, a discipline that integrates the humanities, health care justice, and clinical practice. Jackson brings a narratological framework to both her clinical work and her writing, and she is currently working on a book about her own experiences in the medical community. She serves as a trustee of the Liana Foundation, which supports education and the arts.

Sally Kim is president and publisher of Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group. She was previously senior vice president and publisher of G. P. Putnam’s Sons, a Penguin Random House imprint. She’s held senior editorial positions at Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, the Crown Publishing Group, and St. Martin’s Press, after getting her start at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency almost thirty years ago. In 2022, Poets & Writers honored her with the Editor’s Award.

Christina Baker Kline is a No. 1 New York Times best-selling author of nine novels, including The Exiles, Orphan Train, A Piece of the World, and the forthcoming The Foursome. Her novels are published in forty countries and have received the New England Prize for Fiction, the Maine Literary Award, the Inter-Allied Union Prize of the Cercle Interallié (Paris), and a Barnes & Noble Discover Award, among other prizes, and have been chosen by hundreds of communities, universities, and schools as “One Book, One Read” selections. Her essays, articles, and reviews have appeared in publications such as the New York Times and the New York Times Book Review, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the San Francisco Chronicle, Literary Hub, Psychology Today, and Slate.

Katie Mahon is retired from a senior management position in banking. She recently co-authored her second book, The Miracle Collectors: Uncovering Stories of Wonder, Joy, and Mystery (Worthy Publishing/Hachette, 2021) and continues to speak widely about miracles and spirituality.

Rochelle Riley, writer by trade, warrior by necessity, spent almost 20 years at the Detroit Free Press as a nationally syndicated columnist and fierce advocate for children and women before becoming the City of Detroit’s Director of Arts and Culture, overseeing the Office of Arts, Culture and Entrepreneurship until 2026. An inductee into the Michigan, North Carolina and National Association of Black Journalists Halls of Fame, she is author of two books and a national expert on creative entrepreneurship. She now is co-producing a musical about the life of Robert Smalls and completing her first novel. Learn more about her at www.rochelleriley.com.

Eric Simonoff is a literary agent and partner at the William Morris Endeavor, a global entertainment agency. His clients include Jhumpa Lahiri, Jonathan Lethem, Stacy Schiff, Edward P. Jones, Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, Phil Klay, Stephen Chbosky, Christina Baker Kline, Megha Majumdar, Yaa Gyasi, ZZ Packer, and the New Yorker magazine, among others.

Liate Stehlik is CEO and publisher, US trade, at HarperCollins Publishers overseeing the adult and children’s trade publishing divisions and sales in the US. She joined HarperCollins in 2005 as publisher of Avon Books. In 2018, she was appointed president and publisher of the Morrow Group, and her purview expanded to HarperCollins Children’s Books in 2023. During her time with the company, she has overseen the publication of hundreds of best-selling fiction authors and series including some of HarperCollins’s largest global franchises, such as Narnia, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Agatha Christie. Under her leadership, the Morrow Group has increased revenues 50% and profits approximately 20%, while the Children’s group has seen a more than 100% increase in profitability. Prior to joining HarperCollins, Stehlik was associate publisher at Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. She is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and has an M.A. from New York University’s Gallatin Division.