Williams joins Bristol UP as ops director

Andy Williams, formerly head of operations at Thames & Hudson, has joined Bristol University Press (BUP) as its operations director, a new role at the press.

Williams will provide leadership across the production, operations and technology functions of BUP, joining its senior management team and reporting to chief executive Alison Shaw.

Before working at T&H, Williams also took the role of operations director at Macmillan Science and Education, where he is said to have implemented new business models for print at the Palgrave division, and prior to that academic and professional production director for Cambridge University Press, where he is described as having played a key role in the development of new digital publishing workflows.

Shaw said: “Our reputation for producing high-quality products, and providing an excellent production service for our authors, has always been second to none thanks to the professional and supportive approach of our team. With the anticipated expansion of our lists underway, I am delighted to welcome such a talented and experienced operations director to guide the next stages of our development.”

Williams said he was delighted to be joining "such an enthusiastic and energetic team", adding: "I am looking forward to being involved at this critical moment in The Press’s development and helping achieve its ambitious growth plans. I believe that university presses perform a key role in publishing and disseminating academic research and scholarship, which is ever more important in turbulent times, and Bristol University Press is a fantastic model of how to fulfil this function.”

As well as Williams' appointment, BUP's production team has also recently been expanded and restructured, with Jess Mitchell promoted to the new role of content creation manager,  David Worth taking on the role of product delivery manager, and Ruth Wallace ipromoted to senior production editor, plus new hires Leonie Drake, previously of the Institute of Physics Publishing and Oxford University Press, joining as production editor and Catriona Allon as production assistant.

Bristol University Press launched in December 2016 with the well-regarded Policy Press becoming a publishing imprint of the new university press. BUP is devoted to books and journals which publish high-quality, international scholarship in the social sciences and aligned disciplines, contributing to both academic debate and social change.