LOUISVILLE — The Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC) has unanimously elected Marc Lewis as president and publisher-elect.
The board’s appointment is subject to approval by the 218th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which meets in San Jose, Calif., in June.
Lewis, 58, a graduate of the Owen School of Management at Vanderbilt University, brings a career of denominational publishing experience to the position. His mother was a Cokesbury bookstore manager in Nashville, Tenn., and Lewis’ first endeavor in the industry was to open a new Cokesbury store in Memphis, Tenn. Lewis and his wife, Clare, are members of Springdale Church in Louisville.
He has directed the curriculum publishing unit of the United Methodist Publishing House in Nashville, served as the national marketing manager for Cokesbury, and in 1990 became vice president of product management and direct sales.
Joining the PPC in 1999 as senior vice president and general manager, Lewis was appointed acting president and publisher when Davis Perkins departed in June 2007 to become president of Church Publishing Inc., the publishing house for the Episcopal Church USA.
Lewis and his team have brought the PPC through a sustained period of financial success, due in part to the Web resource, www.thethoughtfulchristian.com. Articulating his sense of call to this work, Lewis cited the PPC’s tradition of excellence in church and academic publishing.
He said he looks forward to building the PPC into “the best denominational publisher,” cultivating new authors and serving both the PC(USA) and an ecumenical audience.
The recommendation of Lewis for the post was made by a search committee and reported to the PPC board at its Feb. 27 meeting. The recommendation followed a series of interviews with finalists for the position.
To ensure a thorough search in what the committee described as “the small universe of religious and denominational publishing,” the services of Bert Davis Executive Search Inc. of New York City were employed.
