Publishing Solutions Group

PSG President & CEO Lori Becker is known for her impressive daily checklist, her “work hard, play hard” philosophy, and her organizational skills, which allow her to find a needle in a haystack at a moment’s notice. Her most important daily task, she says, is ensuring a happy and productive work environment where every PSG team member operates from his or her strengths, while being supported in other areas. Says Lori, “I’ve been told time after time, by new team members, that they thought this kind of workplace was too good to be true, and they are pleasantly surprised to find that it is better than they had expected.“She continues, “My favorite part of my job is coming to work every day. I love what I do and I enjoy every moment with my staff. They are a unique bunch and they always keep me on my toes.”

With more than 20 years of publishing and printing industry work under her belt, Lori’s experience includes key roles in managing editorial development, production, marketing, and art & design.

Lori has cooperative teaching in her blood-after all, her dad has been teaching for over 30 years. One of her first “jobs” was organizing focus-testing materials for her dad and his department. Little did she know that it would lead to proofreading and editing her way through college, teaching after-school art-enrichment programs, becoming a swim instructor and coach, and running for Selectman. She won the Selectman’s race, with the help of many of the teachers in town, and became the youngest female Selectman in the town’s history. Part of her role as Selectman was a seat on the School Board—across the table from the very teachers who had raised her. Since then, she has started three companies, including Publishing Solutions Group.

In her spare time, Lori remains active in economic affairs and volunteer efforts with the City of Boston, and graduated from Boston University’s Entrepreneurial Management Inner City Entrepreneur (ICE) program in 2005.

In fall of 2008 Lori was looking for a new volunteer initiative to benefit our South End community. With PSG’s experience in developing K-12 reading and language arts materials and our staff’s love of literature, PSG Reads was born. Through PSG Reads, staff members visit a local elementary school and read to second grade students including 1 class of special education and ELL students.

Recently, Lori won a spot on the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) 2009 Inner City
100 list. The program is a partnership between ICIC and the BusinessWeek SmallBiz magazine. Chosen from a pool of nearly 6,500 applicants, Publishing Solutions Group is ranked 100 on the list of the fastest growing inner-city companies in America.

Ken Scherpelz, PSG’s Vice President of Sales and Business Development, knows the educational publishing industry inside and out. Since 1979 Ken has worked at leading publishing companies, including ScottForesman, where he was an acquisitions manager; Zaner-Bloser, where he worked as managing editor; and most recently at SRA/McGraw-Hill, where he was the editorial director in charge of special education and intervention programs. Ken also has experience with educational development companies as vice president of two separate development and production houses.

Committed to and passionate about his work, Ken goes about life with a sense of humor that might just leave you in stitches. Typical of someone you’d find in publishing, he is a voracious reader of books, the New Yorker, and spy novels, which he saves for his frequent travels to and from clients.

From his many years in the publishing industry, Ken has learned to:

• listen carefully to his clients’ needs
• offer creative solutions
• anticipate his clients’ needs
• get to know many of his clients personally and professionally
• begin and build relationships

“Establishing a loyal client base is all about relationships,” says Ken. “I can truly empathize with the challenges that my clients face because it wasn’t long ago that I was sitting on that same side of the desk. As clients get to know me, they understand that I used to make the same types of decisions they are now making. That connection helps build the relationship.”

Proud father of “three great kids,” Ken and his wife, Martha, have been in the education business for more than 30 years. Before he entered the publishing field, Ken taught first, second, and third graders; Martha works with gifted students in elementary school. The conversation around their house has always focused on their students and their own kids. “I’m proud of what I do,” says Ken the teacher, father, publisher, and occasional golfer. “I’m happy knowing I contribute to the education of our kids.”

Favorite quote:
“Time flies like the wind; fruit flies like a banana.” -Groucho Marx

Mary-Kate joined Publishing Solutions Group in late 2009 as our Director of Translation and Technology, and with her Blackberry-checking, 80’s music-listening, and budget-planning ways, she fits right in! Once she gets into the office, her days are filled with “writing, responding, consulting, advising, planning, problem-solving, collaborating and technical training.”

Her favorite types of projects are ones that combine adaptation as well as invention. A little turbulence on a project doesn’t bother Mary-Kate, she’s happy to keep busy and will do whatever it takes to keep the project moving. Mary-Kate describes herself as astute, inquisitive, and forthright, and we’d like to add dedicated (she’s been known to burn the midnight oil) and green (she prefers to work in a paperless environment) to that list.

Mary-Kate began her publishing career as stringer for several local newspapers covering town and city meetings, events, people, and places. She transitioned to the world of magazines while working at Wayne Green Enterprises (WGE), a music magazine publisher. At WGE, Mary-Kate started as an Assistant Editor for CD Review; she later moved up to Managing Editor helping to launch The Secret Guide to Music, a magazine dedicated to the promotion of music produced and distributed by independent labels.

Mary-Kate made her way to the professional publishing arena eventually working for seven years with Reed Elsevier’s Butterworth-Heinemann division, first as an Editorial/Production Coordinator for the Journal’s division, then as a Production Editor for the Books division, transitioning to Multimedia Production Manager as technology demands crept into the workflow, and finally ending up as Knowledge Manager. Most recently, Mary-Kate worked for nine years at a leading localization company as the Sales Director overseeing the Publishing Service group.

A devout fan of anything Austen, Mary-Kate’s favorite novel is Persuasion, although her two cats—Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy—might beg to differ! Other interesting tidbits about Mary-Kate: she’s been a Girl Scout for 35 years, is a huge fan of the band Level 42, and enjoys Victorian paper arts and crafts, including quilling and card making.

For Mary-Kate’s complete resume and project history, see your sales representative.

A self-described technophile (his favorite magazine is Popular Science) and Mac addict (after using a Mac for the first time he switched his major from Environmental Science to Graphic Design), Don Ayer joined Publishing Solutions Group in early 2009 as our Production Manager. With nearly ten years of hands-on and management experience in the publishing field, Don is a highly skilled professional. He is responsible for all aspects of book production: format and page design; page layouts and page proofs; page checks; placement of photos and figures; and delivery of files to printer. Don spends his days working in InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator. He is known for following client specifications to produce high-quality page layouts that are cost effective and always done within the schedule.

Don’s favorite types of projects are Teacher’s Editions. “The pages are complicated and the volume is heavy,” he explains, “but the regular patterns and formulaic nature of the layouts make for lots of ways to save time in page composition; you just have to know what to look for. If I see a step that will need to be repeated many times, I will always look for a faster and cleaner way to do it.” Another part of the job Don enjoys is building accurate and efficient templates. He loves finding little tricks and tweaks that can be incorporated to save a few seconds here and there while also incorporating measures to avoid possible problems further down the road.

Prior to working at PSG, Don did freelance production and consulting work for publishers and developers. Before that, he worked as the manager of the Art, Design & Production Department for a developer. There, he managed production for high-volume, fast-paced English and Spanish products for a variety of educational publishers. Years before that, while still in college, Don had one of his most memorable jobs: a night security guard at a private housing community on Long Island Sound. Basically, he was paid to hang out at the beach all night and keep people just like him from hanging out there.

When Don’s not working hard on his Mac, he’s playing Boggle or Rock Band. Tall and easy-going, he loves word games and can even hold his own against editorial types. A Rock Band expert, Don’s known for easily getting a score of 100% on Modest Mouse’s Float On. Three things he couldn’t live without? His MaciLife, any newspaper with a crossword or Sudoku, and his iPhone.

Senior Project Manager Marcia Murray arrived at PSG in early 2008, bringing with her a wealth of talent and experience in the publishing industry. Over the last 20+ years Marcia has worked as a Publications Supervisor, a Production Specialist at Simon & Schuster, and, most recently, a Production Manager then Managing Editor at McDougal Littell, so she knows a thing or two about the book production process.

Never one to toot her own horn, Marcia’s experience includes supervising all aspects of production, managing project budgets, hiring freelancers, and supervising multiple projects with vendors. Then again, she doesn’t have to toot her horn; we’ll gladly do it for her.

Marcia is a problem solver, always finding the best way to meet a deadline or make sense out of chaos—this probably came in handy while raising three kids. An avid bird watcher and reader of Birder’s World magazine, Marcia and her husband have a Senegal parrot named Peanut in addition to two Pembroke Welsh Corgis and a couple of grandkids to throw into the mix. She describes herself as “dedicated and honest,” and states that one of her specialties is being punctual: “I’m usually early if not on time.”

We discovered Marcia’s sense of humor almost immediately, as evidenced by this gem: She was once Yogi Bear in the Andover Christmas parade. As part of Publishing Solutions Group’s Professional Development Initiative, Marcia, along with the rest of the staff, recently took a series of copyediting, proofreading, and grammar classes through the renowned Emerson College Copyediting Certificate Program. Instructors came to the PSG offices to teach intensive classes on a variety of publishing topics. Marcia enjoyed all the classes, but was particularly interested in learning how to mark corrections electronically in Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat during the Copyediting: Standard Procedures class.

Favorite Quote:
“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” -John Lennon

For Marcia’s complete resume and project history, see your sales representative.

Annette Cinelli, an avid reader and writer with a B.A. in English from Assumption College, joined PSG in early 2008 as a copyeditor. Annette joins PSG after working at Davis Publications, a well-known art education publisher, for 3 years, acquiring art permissions, editing credits, and proofreading contracts and manuscripts.

During this time, Annette realized that her love of recasting words, assessing subject-verb agreement, and tightening phrases was driving her passion. We were looking to add a copyeditor to our team and Annette was a perfect fit!

Annette has worked as a tour guide and an advertising assistant, as well as in a movie theater (free movies!—free popcorn with real butter!), and in her spare time she volunteers as a Big Sister.

She also loves to travel and has been to Italy, France, England, Mexico, Canada, and most recently to the Eastern Caribbean for her honeymoon. The semester she studied in Italy was her favorite trip - she hopes to write a book someday about her experience there. We admit that we find her to be funny, with just the right mix of friendly wit and kindness.

As part of Publishing Solutions Group’s Professional Development Initiative, Annette, along with the rest of the staff, recently took a series of copyediting, proofreading, and grammar classes through the renowned Emerson College Copyediting Certificate Program. Instructors came to the PSG offices to teach intensive classes on a variety of publishing topics. Annette was particularly interested in an article from the New York Times titled “Celebrating the Semicolon in a Most Unlikely Location.” The article, which one of the instructors passed out during Punctuation for Professionals class, referred to a New York City Transit public service placard that contained a correctly used semicolon.

For Annette’s complete resume and project history, see your sales representative.

Publishing Solutions Group Senior Editor Richard Carson, has over a decade of publishing experience in addition to an extensive teaching background. He worked for nine years at McDougal Littell/Houghton Mifflin Co., for a year at Pearson Educational Publishers, and for two years at a development house. He also has extensive teaching experience including 8 years at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

At McDougal Litttel/Hougton Mifflin, Richard worked as a Content Editor and later a Book Editor for their Language Arts and Social Studies departments. He is extremely proud of the features he wrote for The Americans series. At Pearson he worked as a Senior Editor on several grammar programs. In his time at a development house, Richard wrote original texts, researched historical texts, and edited a variety of student text and ancillaries. Richard edits pages not just for content, grammar, and consistency, but also “to make pages attractive and meaningful for students and teachers.”

Richard taught remedial reading in Bennington, Vermont and did a lot of tutoring when he was in college. He designed and taught introductory, intermediate, advanced, and independent courses on colonial nineteenth-century, modern, and contemporary American Literature at the College of the Holy Cross. Richard has also given library lectures in Rhode Island on American fiction.

Richard describes himself as an English major even though it has been “30+ years since I was in college.” For him, the English major is a way of life. He enjoys reading and writing and hopes to someday finish the novel he started while working on his MFA at Emerson College.

Richard’s editorial expertise combined with his love of movies and theater and his secret ambition to write a play makes him a perfect fit here at Publishing Solutions Group.

Editor David Rigby has worked on a variety of projects for Publishing Solutions Group since 2007. He came to PSG after many years as a development editor and writer. David’s vast experience includes working on a variety of Social Studies, Reading, and Science projects, among others. In Social Studies he has edited and fact-checked elementary and secondary texts, written a one half of a high school ancillary workbook, and reviewed manuscripts in a middle school series on American Presidents. In Reading he has written leveled readers and has worked on literature texts for Holt, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, and McDougal Littell. In Science, he has edited and fact-checked middle school science for McDougal Littell.

He has also copyedited, proofread, and fact-checked high school health; edited, checked for accuracy, and wrote part of the glossary for an updated version of a college level survey text in American History; and written answer keys for two ESL workbooks. He has worked with several development houses and publishers throughout his career, including Silver Burdett & Ginn; Publicom; Heinle and Heinle; Prentice Hall; Houghton Mifflin; and Glencoe/McGraw-Hill.

David has a B.A. in History from Boston College, a Master’s in History from Tufts, and a Ph.D. in World War II History from Brandeis University (his dissertation topic: the Combined Chiefs of Staff and Anglo-American Strategic Coordination in World War II). He also worked for a period as a History Teacher/Teaching Assistant for Brandeis University. It is not unusual to find him reading a historical text —The Second World War series by Winston Churchill is his favorite—before or after his noontime run.

A quiet, diligent, hard-working man of many talents, David also is a fly-fishing expert and claims to make a mean pot roast. Mostly, though, he loves a challenging project, writing, editing—and did we mention history?

Favorite Quote:
“England expects every man to do his duty”—Lord Nelson’s signal to the fleet just before the battle of Trafalga

For David’s complete resume and project history, see your sales representative.

Filemaker Guru Charlie Bohm comes to PSG with more than 15 years of print, prepress, and IT management experience. Charlie created and maintains our robust and revered in-house database, a multilayer, multifaceted FileMaker program that helps us keep track of freelancers, billing, schedules, project reports, and more—namely, just about everything we do.

While Charlie’s list of computer skills reads like a Trekkie convention, he also likes to have fun. He sings a mean karaoke and has adorable twin daughters who definitely keep him busy! When he can sneak in a few minutes of free time, Charlie loves to read Car and Driver, MacWorld, and, if he’s really lucky, some of Stephen King’s “Dark Tower” series, which, as he puts it, is “several thousand pages of goodness with incredible characters.”

For a man who loves laughter and enjoys a good challenge, Charlie is a delight to have around. And for us, whose computers he updates regularly, and who use the database he created for just about everything, we salute him.

Caitlin Dwyer joined PSG in January 2010 as a Publishing Intern for the spring semester. She recently graduated from Emerson College, the nation’s only four-year college devoted exclusively to the study of communications and performing arts. While working toward her BA in Writing, Literature and Publishing, she took several copyediting courses and made the Dean’s list several times. In her spare time, she tutors children in English, reading, and writing.

As a PSG intern, Caitlin received real-world, hands-on experience in all facets of publishing including editorial, production, project management and marketing. Since starting here, she quickly found her niche in the sales & marketing department, and recently joined us full-time as our new Sales & Marketing Coordinator.

This isn’t her first stint in the publishing industry, last summer Caitlin worked as an intern for a magazine publisher in New York City, commuting over two hours each day from New Jersey. She also worked for three years at Bed Bath & Beyond; although it’s been over a year since she left the store, she still finds herself identifying BB&B products in any room she’s in and making completely accurate estimates about their price.

Her other claims to fame? She makes a mean chili and has the unparalleled ability to identify movie quotes. Her favorite movie quote? “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”—from John Hughes’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Like her colleagues at PSG, Caitlin is a reader. Her favorite author is David Sedaris, her favorite book is Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and she can’t live without her Esquire Magazine or New York Times.

Energetic, friendly, and motivated, Caitlin is a welcome addition to the PSG team.

RayLynn Tustin, one of Publishing Solutions Group’s summer interns, will graduate next year from Emerson College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Writing, Literature, and Publishing and minors in Science and Psychology. With a strong desire to immerse herself in the publishing field, RayLynn impressed us right off the bat with her passion for the industry and preparedness for the interview. Since she’s been working here at PSG, we have also found she is extremely efficient and dedicated to her job.

In addition to her publishing course work, RayLynn also worked for a year as the Executive Co-Editor of Stork, Emerson College’s fiction literary magazine. In this position, she reviewed, edited, and finalized the fiction stories considered for publication.

RayLynn is also a member of Kappa Gamma Chi, a professional sorority that focuses on community service in the Boston area. She has worked on a variety of projects including volunteering at the St. Francis House, a shelter and rehabilitative program; the Fairy Godmother Project, an organization that collects formal dresses for disadvantaged students; and organizing a week long Take Back the Night event to educate the community on domestic violence.

Here at PSG, RayLynn has a variety of responsibilities including putting together media kits and researching information for current projects. As her internship continues, she will receive hands-on experience with each department including project management, editorial, and production. She is most excited about getting a chance to edit, copyedit, and proofread.

An expert on Abraham Lincoln and an avid reader (her favorites are the Harry Potter series and any Sarah Dessen book) RayLynn hopes to some day work as a copyeditor or a Broadway actress. Considering that she can’t sing a note, but has an eye for errors and a passion for publishing, we expect her to go far as a copyeditor.

One of Publishing Solutions Group’s summer interns is Emerson College student Alecia Eberhardt, who will be graduating in 2011 with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Writing, Literature, and Publishing as well as a minor in Philosophy and Science. This summer before her senior year of college, she will be splitting her time between the PSG office, where she’ll receive hands-on experience in the publishing industry, and the Emerson campus, where she will be working as a tour guide.

Her internship at PSG is not Alecia’s first foray into the publishing world. In 2009, she was an intern at Barefoot Books, an international children’s publisher. There she read and evaluated unsolicited manuscripts, presented possible acquisitions to the editors, and kept up correspondence with current and potential authors and illustrators. She worked on a range of products including activity books, books in translation, and audio books.

Alecia also worked for two years as the Managing Editor of Stork, Emerson College’s fiction literary magazine. She worked with two other members of the executive board to make administrative and editorial decisions. She is also an active member of the Undergraduate Students for Publishing, where she worked with the club to publish two student-written works. There she had copyediting and editorial tasks.

Three reading materials Alecia can’t live without are the Improper Bostonian, all Madeline L’Engle books, and any books of short stories. A lover of words, Alecia and her roommate are known for creating their own words and catchphrases. They even have dictionary posted in the kitchen so guests can understand what they’re talking about! An expert at Mad Libs, thrift shopping, and correcting grammar, this cheerful intern has been a welcome addition to the PSG team.