Rice to head Touchpress as Aspinall departs

Louise Rice is to take over as c.e.o. of app developer Touchpress from 1st February, with Sam Aspinall departing.

Rice, currently the company's executive producer, has a background at Reed Elsevier, OUP Reference and Rodale Books, and spent four years as publishing and merchandise director at London's National Gallery before joining Touchpress in 2011.

She will lead Touchpress through its next round of funding, as it develops its music platform and content partnerships in line with its new strategy, announced in November.

RIce commented: “It is an honour to be asked to lead Touchpress. Our own apps go from strength to strength and we have some incredibly exciting partnerships lined up for 2016 as well as new formats that we can’t wait to share with the world.“

Aspinall, who joined Touchpress in 2014, said “I was tasked by the board with transforming Touchpress into an organisation with long-term value. I am proud to have achieved this goal and have decided it is now time for me to move on. I do so knowing that I leave Touchpress in Louise’s very capable hands. I for one can’t wait to see what the team does next.”

In 2015 Touchpress announced it was shifting its core focus to music products and was selling some of its catalogue, including education and literary apps. It is "currently in negotiation to complete this sale".

Recent apps include Millie Marotta’s Colouring Adventures, released with Pavillion Books, which was featured by Apple as a Best New App in the UK, China and Japan in January, and has been downloaded over 150,000 times in 10 days, according to Touchpress.