Textbook 2.0: The Future of Textbook Publishing
2009 TAA Conference Presentation

Please note: Recordings may not be copied, shared, or distributed.

Panelists: Brad Fregger, President/CEO, Groundbreaking Press; Michael Boezi, Editorial Director, Flat World Knowledge; Roth Wilkofsky, President, Pearson's Arts and Sciences Communication, English, and Political Science group.

Brad Fregger has 45 years combined experience in retailing, corporate training, software development, international lecturing, and publishing. He is currently President/CEO of Groundbreaking Press, an author-services book publishing company with offices in Austin, Texas, and a member of the adjunct faculty at Texas State University-San Marcos, Texas, and Franklin University in Columbus, Ohio. Brad has produced more than 50 videos, 50 books, 12 audio books, and over 100 consumer and business enterprise software products, including the most successful computer game in the world (Shanghai). He is also recognized as the inventor of the most played computer game in the world (computer card solitaire). He's an international speaker providing programs throughout the Middle East, Europe, and Canada. He's also written six books; his book, Get Out of the Way! - You'll never manage your way to great leadership, was the text in a leadership course held at the University of Texas, Austin. Brad holds a Master's Degree in Futuristics (San Jose State University). His speech, "Earthward Implications of Cosmic Migration," was given at the American Astronautical Society's proceedings in honor of the tenth anniversary of Apollo 11's landing on the moon.

Michael Boezi has spent 13 years in higher education publishing, in various roles that have led him to join Flat World Knowledge to help develop one vision of Textbook 2.0. Most recently, Michael was an Executive Editor at Pearson Education, publishing textbooks for the U.S. history course, one of the largest enrolling college courses in the country. Before that, Michael served as an editor at John Wiley & Sons, and as a marketing manager at Addison-Wesley, both in mathematics and statistics.

Roth Wilkofsky has spent his entire career in college publishing. He got his start in 1970 as a New England sales rep for Holt, Rinehart & Winston. After five years in the field, Roth went in-house as an acquiring editor. He subsequently held editorial and editorial management positions with Random House and McGraw-Hill. Roth joined Pearson in 1993, as head of Longman College Publishing. Currently he is President of Pearson’s Arts and Sciences Communication, English, and Political Science group. Throughout his editorial and management career, Roth has worked exclusively on the soft side. Many texts with which he is closely associated, either as a signing editor or an editorial manager or publisher, are widely adopted throughout the humanities and social sciences, at all levels of the curriculum. Since 2000, Roth has been a member of the University of Denver’s Publishing Institute faculty.