Board of Directors

Kofi Appenteng is the president of the Africa-America Institute (AAI). Appenteng has thirty years of domestic and international experience as a corporate lawyer, investment banker, and board director. He serves as chair for Africa at Delphos International and is a member of the Advisory Board of the Rock Creek Group. He is a member of the board at the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, and previously served as board chair of the Ford Foundation. In recognition of his work in business and philanthropy, he was named a “Great American Immigrant” by the Carnegie Corporation in 2013. 

Amy Berkower is the chair of Writers House, an independent, full-service literary agency representing over five hundred authors.

Johanna V. Castillo is a senior agent at Writers House literary agency. Previously, she worked at Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, where she was vice president and executive editor and editorial director of Atria Español.

Allison Davis has a long career as a television and non-profit executive. Currently, she is the founder of a video production company that produces documentaries and virtual events.

Sanyu Dillon is president of the Random House Publishing Group, where she oversees imprints Random House, The Dial Press, Hogarth, The Modern Library, One World, Ballantine Bantam Dell/Delacorte, Random House Worlds, Harmony/Rodale, Convergent, and WaterBrook & Multnomah. An incisive and inclusive leader guided by future-oriented thinking and a deep passion for creative storytelling, she began her PRH career at Random House in 2004 as director of marketing for the Random House imprint. She held successive marketing roles over the next fourteen years, bringing an empathetic approach centered on a deep understanding of the evolving needs of readers. Dillon moved to corporate marketing in 2018, and in 2020 she became chief marketing officer, helping the company connect with its readers through dynamic storytelling and breakthrough campaigns. She is a member of the Penguin Random House U.S. Board and has an executive MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.

Alexandra Engler has worked in finance for more than fifteen years, with a strong interest in alternative investments. Most recently she was a senior analyst at Diameter Capital Partners, where she invested across industries, including energy, power, autos, transportation, logistics, gaming, sovereigns, industrials, and municipalities. 

Kassie Evashevski is the co-head of media rights at Anonymous Content. Previously, she was a partner at the United Talent Agency, where she was co-head of the books department. Her career has taken her to Brillstein Entertainment Partners, Writers House, and Random House.

Elliot Figman came to Poets & Writers as a volunteer in 1977; in 1981 he became the executive director. Elliot retired as P&W’s executive director at the end of 2020. He led Poets & Writers for nearly four decades, overseeing the launch of Poets & Writers Magazine and pw.org, among other significant initiatives. An accomplished poet, his book, Big Spring, was published by Four Way Books in 2003; his chapbook, Interior Whistle, was published in 2017 by Green Zone Press.

Terrance G. Finley is the chief executive officer of Books-A-Million Inc., the nation’s second largest bookstore chain operating 220 stores in thirty-two states. A veteran of the book industry for over forty years, Mr. Finley began his career as a book buyer at Rich’s Department Store in Atlanta, Georgia. He has been an enthusiastic supporter of Poets & Writers, including as chair of the organization’s annual gala in 2023.

A.M. Homes’ most recent book is The Unfolding (Viking Press/Penguin Random House, 2022). Previous titles include Days of Awe, May We Be Forgiven, This Book Will Save Your Life, Music for Torching, The End of Alice, In a Country of Mothers, Jack, Things You Should Know, The Safety of Objects, and the best-selling memoir, The Mistress’s Daughter. Her opera, RISE, debuted at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in 2022. She teaches at Princeton University and sits on the Council of the Writers Guild of America East.

Kimberly Jackson worked in direct marketing for an educational publishing company before moving abroad to produce country-based economic reports for an international press agency. She lived and worked in many different countries, ultimately managing teams across the globe. After completing clinical studies in classical Chinese medicine, she attended Columbia University where she earned a master’s degree in narrative medicine, a discipline that integrates the humanities, health care justice, and clinical practice. Jackson brings a narratological framework to both her clinical work and her writing, and she is currently working on a book about her own experiences in the medical community. She serves as a trustee of the Liana Foundation, which supports education and the arts.

Willys Schneider Kals is a retired partner with Arnold & Porter, having focused on tax law.

Sally Kim is president and publisher of Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group. She was previously senior vice president and publisher of G. P. Putnam’s Sons, a Penguin Random House imprint. She’s held senior editorial positions at Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, the Crown Publishing Group, and St. Martin’s Press, after getting her start at the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency almost thirty years ago. In 2022, Poets & Writers honored her with the Editor’s Award.

Katie Mahon is retired from a senior management position in banking. She recently co-authored her second book, The Miracle Collectors: Uncovering Stories of Wonder, Joy, and Mystery (Worthy Publishing/Hachette, 2021) and continues to speak widely about miracles and spirituality.

Rochelle Riley is the City of Detroit’s director of arts and culture. An award-winning journalist, she was a columnist for the Detroit Free Press for nearly twenty years. She is the author of That They Lived: African Americans Who Changed the World (Wayne State University Press, 2021) and The Burden: African Americans and the Enduring Impact of Slavery. Her many honors include the Ida B. Wells Award from the National Association of Black Journalists and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. An essayist, keynote speaker, and artist, she remains a writer by trade, warrior by necessity.

Eric Simonoff is a literary agent and partner at the William Morris Endeavor, a global entertainment agency. His clients include Jhumpa Lahiri, Jonathan Lethem, Stacy Schiff, Edward P. Jones, Douglas Preston, Lincoln Child, Phil Klay, Stephen Chbosky, Christina Baker Kline, Megha Majumdar, Yaa Gyasi, ZZ Packer, and the New Yorker magazine, among others.

Liate Stehlik is president and publisher of the Morrow Group, overseeing the publishing operations for William Morrow, Mariner, Harvest, Avon, Dey Street, and Harper Voyager. Liate joined HarperCollins in 2005 as publisher of Avon Books. Prior to joining HarperCollins, Liate was an associate publisher at Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster. She is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and has an M.A. from New York University’s Gallatin Division. She is a member of the board for the NYU/Gallatin Publishing Program. Liate lives in New York City with her husband and four children.