Bottomley appointed executive chair of BA Group

Former Booksellers Association (BA) president Nic Bottomley has been appointed executive chair of the BA Group, following the retirement of Tim Godfray last year.

Bottomley, who has now taken up the role, will focus on internal governance and group strategy, while sitting on the BA Group, BA Divisional, Books Tokens and the Batch boards.

Bottomley was elected BA president in April 2018, a post he occupied for two years before ceding it to Andy Rossiter earlier this year. He is also the co-founder of Bath indie Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights, which he will continue to run.

He said: “I am thrilled to be able to continue my connection with the BA Group with this new role. Through my time sitting on BA Council and then serving as BA vice-president and president, I have learned what an incredible organisation the BA really is and how much it is valued by its broad membership. Each of its three divisions — the Booksellers Association, Batch and National Book Tokens — all serve and support the organisation’s bookselling members in many different ways. I’m looking forward to working across the various boards to further refine and develop the group’s strategy, development and governance.”

Bottomley will work alongside the BA Group senior management team, including BA m.d. Meryl Halls, Batch m.d. Fraser Tanner, National Book Tokens m.d. Alex de Berry and finance director Tom Catton.

Halls said: “Nic Bottomley was a fantastic BA President, and has played an integral role in a number of key initiatives that we have launched during his tenure. Nic has shown stalwart support for the BA and is passionate about the importance of bookshops. We are excited to welcome him as executive chair, never more so than at this uniquely challenging time for bookselling, where Nic has already proven himself an insightful colleague and an inspiring leader.”