Staff

Kelly Bolding

Digital Business Strategist

Kelly grew up in Oklahoma and currently resides in a small town along the Delaware River. They studied English literature at Reed College and Library and Information Science at Rutgers. Kelly joined NAB in 2023 after a decade working as an archivist with literary and historical collections in public and university libraries. She spends much of her free time working on music and house projects.

Emily Boyd

Editorial Director

Emily has been with NAB since 2003, led there by her interest in alternative medicine. An Oakland native, she received her BA in communications from UCLA and her MS in print journalism from Boston University, making a speedy return to the Bay Area after receiving her degree. Prior to NAB, she worked for Red Herring, several dot-com start-ups, and AOL. Emily has written for Los Angeles and 7×7 magazines and enjoys reading actual printed books, walking, hanging with cats, and good food and wine. She lives in Oakland with her husband and feels fortunate to work with so many other cat (and yes, dog) lovers.

Susan Bumps

Associate Publisher

A publishing professional with more than two decades of experience, Susan received a BA in English and creative writing from UC Davis and an MFA in English and creative writing from Mills College. Besides working at NAB, her favorite job has been writing entries for The Book of Symbols (Taschen). In her free time, she likes to listen to audiobooks, play Octordle, make soup, hike, and commune with nature at her favorite place, the ocean.

Drew Cavanaugh

Director of Sales and Distribution

A book publishing professional for more than fifteen years, Drew currently serves as director of sales and distribution at NAB. His areas of interest include health and fitness, psychology and personal growth, and somatics. In his current role, Drew oversees NAB’s sales and distribution program in close partnership with their global distributor, Penguin Random House.

Gabby Cazares-Lopez

Marketing Manager

Gabby has lived in the Bay Area her entire life. She received her BA in print/online journalism from SFSU. Gabby interned at NAB in 2019, then worked as a marketing and program assistant in North Oakland. When not working, she enjoys baking and taking her dog on walks.

Emma Cofod

Associate Director of Production

Emma is a production pro with over 20 years experience at a variety of Bay Area publishers, working on a wide range of subjects and formats, including art books, legal treatise, literary fiction, and multi-component educational curricula. She loves the particulars of prepress as well as the creative chaos of the design process. After hours you can usually find her digging in the garden or wrestling with her mondo doggo Mateo.

Bevin Donahue

Communications Director

Bevin is the communications director at North Atlantic Books and has been with NAB since 2014. She’s an amateur potter, a sometimes writer, and a longtime student of nature. She lives in New England.

Joe Finlaw

Director of Audio, Technology, and Website Development

Joe has been with NAB since 2012. His role in the company combines two of his favorite interests, technology and books, and he thoroughly enjoys it. Born and raised in southern New Jersey, Joe graduated from Rowan University in 1998 with a radio/television/film degree. He moved to Berkeley a few months later and spent many years working in the independent music industry. Joe spent more than five years working in both marketing and software development for Nolo, an influential DIY legal publisher based in Berkeley. He’s an avid record collector who runs his own independent label called American Dust Records. His favorite books are Thomas Mann’s Doctor Faustus, Studs Terkel’s Talking to Myself, and Bob Dylan’s Chronicles: Volume One. Joe lives in Alameda with his wife and two daughters.

Gillian Hamel

Senior Editor of Acquisitions and Production

Gillian was born and raised in Northern California. After a decade-ish spent studying poetry and working for various small presses as an editor and book designer, including as co-publisher of the micropress speCt! books, Gillian joined NAB in 2019 to pursue his interest in exploring the intersections of topics like trauma, spirit, ecology, social justice, and queer studies. When they’re not making or thinking about books, Gillian is biking around the East Bay, trying to replicate his grandparents’ Cantonese comfort dishes, and fencing foil at the West Berkeley Fencing Club.

Jasmine Hromjak

Creative Director

Shayna Keyles

Associate Director of Acquisitions

Shayna is a New Jersey transplant to the Bay Area. She received her BA from Oberlin College and trained as an editor through UC Berkeley, and has held several roles in the world of publishing and beyond before joining NAB in 2019. Outside of work, Shayna can be found tending to their garden, experimenting in the kitchen, doodling furiously, playing tabletop games, and exploring anything explorable.

Al Lazard

Accounting and Facilities Manager

Al moved to Oakland in 1986 after studying accounting and music at Southern University of New Orleans. A musician since the age of nine, Al juggled accounting and musical careers, and came to NAB in 2008, where he started out as accounting specialist. His duties gradually expanded to include facilities coordinator. Al enjoys the wide variety of jobs he handles at NAB, including managing office equipment and emergencies, serving as a liaison between company employees and outside contractors, fixing building malfunctions, maintaining all office supplies, responding to staff requests, payroll, mailing, and accounts payables and receivables. He interacts with staff across all departments and is happy to have a job that draws on his versatility and broad range of skills. His love of music is still going strong and he continues to play gigs all over the Bay Area as well as on several extended tours.

Janelle Ludowise

Senior Production Editor

Janelle grew up in the South Bay before briefly moving to Denver, CO, where she earned her BA from the University of Denver and attended the Denver Publishing Institute. After returning to the Bay Area, she interned and worked at several Bay Area publishers before joining NAB in early 2020. Janelle likes hot cups of tea, tap dancing, and public libraries.

Tim McKee

Publisher

Tim came to NAB in 2013 and is honored to serve as publisher. Born in New York City, McKee grew up in Los Angeles and received a BA from Princeton University and an MA in journalism from the University of Missouri. He has worked in the nonprofit sector for his entire career, including serving as the long-time managing editor of The Sun magazine, the grants director for a social-justice foundation in San Francisco, and as a writer for several community-based organizations in California. He has also taught college-level writing and journalism. His book No More Strangers Now: Young Voices from a New South Africa (Dorling Kindersley) was an Honor Book for the Jane Addams Book Award and a Los Angeles Times bestseller. He is happiest when bringing necessary stories to the page.

Maxie Moua

Rights Associate

Maxie is the Rights Associate. She joined publishing after achieving a MFA in Creative Writing. Her own works center on the contemporary and futuristic Hmong American experience. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, traveling, and reading. For self-care, she runs, journals, or watches slice-of-life shows.

Michelle Phan

Publicist

Michelle is a SoCal native who sometimes misses the warm and sunny beaches back home. After graduating from UC Santa Barbara with a B.A. in English, Michelle interned at NAB before joining the publicity department full-time. She also currently serves as Vice President of Bay Area Women in Publishing. When she’s not working or reading books, she enjoys camping, going to concerts, and making random trips to Berkeley Bowl.

Julia Sadowski

Associate Publicity Director

Julia grew up in Massachusetts and has lived in the Bay Area since 2015. She finds her work sharing innovative and progressive voices, tools, and frameworks deeply gratifying. When she’s not reading or sharing a new book with a friend, Julia enjoys eating delicious food, being in nature, and honing her new(ish) NVC practice in community.

Sarah Serafimidis

Associate Director of Rights

Sarah first joined NAB in 2000 as customer service manager after finally escaping from an accidental career in medical office management. During her years at NAB she worked as a project editor and contracts assistant before discovering her affinity for foreign rights licensing. Sarah’s favorite part of her work is connecting with people from all over a world that seems so much smaller now. She holds an MA in English literature from California State University, Fresno, and still enjoys a long Victorian novel in addition to titles on health and psychology. Sarah lives with her husband and son in Albany, where she relishes sharing good food and wine with friends and still hopes to find time to play her guitar again and finish just one sewing project.

Emily Shapiro

Senior Publicist

Emily Shapiro is a Senior Publicist and has been at NAB since 2019. In the past they worked for Pop-Up Magazine and Zoetrope All-Story. When not at work they are likely trying to figure out how to make something by hand, reading horror, or organizing with California Coalition for Women Prisoners.

John Sockolov

Production Coordinator

John came to Berkeley, California in 2014 to attend UC Berkeley and has lived there ever since. A degree in linguistics and a love of books made publishing a natural career choice. He was with Stone Bridge Press for five years under the tutelage of Peter Goodman before joining NAB. In his free time he enjoys reading history and literature as well as spending time with his cat, Toki.

Alla Spector

Senior Director of Finance

Born and raised in the Ukraine, Alla received her BA from Odessa State University in 1986 and has worked in the field of finance ever since. She moved to the U.S. in 1994 and, after working at Ten Speed Press, joined NAB in 2010. She loves finance and accounting and has extensive experience recording and projecting business activity, but what she finds especially rewarding at NAB is the opportunity to shape the financial landscape and to steer the organization toward greater success. Alla enjoys using her talent for paying strong attention to detail, her aptitude for numbers and problem solving, and her role in capturing and analyzing business activities on a daily basis. It is by far the most rewarding position she has had yet. She lives in the East Bay with her husband, daughter, three dogs, and a parrot.

Francesca Walker

Acquisitions Editor

Francesca was born and raised in Los Angeles before moving to New York City, where they received their B.A. from Columbia University with a major in English Literature and a minor in Hispanic Studies. Prior to joining North Atlantic Books in 2024, they spent nearly four years with Amistad Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, where they acquired and edited fiction, non-fiction, and poetry written by authors of the Black diaspora. Francesca has found their way back to Los Angeles and they enjoy hiking, curating themed playlists for their friends, and searching for the best sushi spots on the West Coast.

Elliot Busch-Wheaton

Technology & Operations Services

Since 1997, Elliot Busch-Wheaton has provided technology management and services to Bay Area businesses and nonprofit organizations. His company–Conscious Consulting–is based in Berkeley, where Elliot lives with his family.

Linea Creative

Web Development and Consulting

Linea Creative is a full service digital agency providing clients with strategic, creative, and technical solutions to fuel success online. Linea and NAB have worked together for over a decade to bring NAB’s vision to life across their web and social channels.

Daniel Harrison

Web Development and Data Processing

Daniel Harrison, Founder of WebScale Consulting, has been supporting the data processing activities for NAB since 2014. Daniel has worked with multiple Fortune 500 companies in various industries providing services that include software development, project management, data modeling, technical consulting, and more.

Daniel lives in Alameda with his wife and two daughters. He frequents the new restaurants and breweries popping up in Alameda and enjoys traveling the great state of California with his family.