Jane Friedman is the Co-Founder of

Open Road Integrated Media Open Road Integrated Media or ORIM (stylized as OR/M and also called Open Road) is a digital media company in New York City that was created by Jane Friedman and Jeffrey Sharp in 2009 with a focus on publishing ebook editions of older works of ...

, which sells and markets

ebooks An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. A ...

. She was the President and Chief Executive Officer of

HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...

Publishers Worldwide, one of the world's leading English-language publishers, from 1997 to 2008. Friedman is credited with inventing the author's tour, now a staple of the industry. Friedman founded and became president of the first audio books division of a trade publisher.

Early life

Friedman was born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family, the daughter of Ruth and Bert Lippman; her father was a graphic artist and her mother was one of New York's original Miss Subways. After graduating from Hewlett High School, Friedman earned a B.A. degree in English from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

in 1967.

Career

She was executive vice president of

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, Inc., executive vice president of the Knopf Publishing Group, publisher of Vintage Books, and founder and president of Random House Audio Publishing. She came to HarperCollins from Random House. Her departure from HarperCollins was reported in ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' on Wednesday, June 5, 2008. She has served on the board of the

Association of American Publishers The Association of American Publishers (AAP) is the national trade association of the American book publishing industry. AAP lobbies for book, journal and education publishers in the United States. AAP members include most of the major commercial ...

, Literacy Partners,

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

, and Poets & Writers, Inc. She is also a member of the American advisory committee of the Jerusalem International Book Fair, the advisory committee to the MFA program in creative writing at

The New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...

and is a vice-chair of the entertainment, media and communications division of the UJA Federation of New York. In 2011, Friedman secured $8 million in funding from investment companies Azure Capital, Golden Seeds and Kohlberg Ventures.

Personal life

Friedman lives in Manhattan and

East Hampton, New York East Hampton is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York United States. It is located at the eastern end of the South Shore (Long Island), South Shore of Long Island. It is the easternmost town i ...

Awards

Publishers Weekly Person of the Year; ''

''s 50 Women to Watch; ''

Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is an American business magazine published monthly in print and online, focusing on technology, business, and design. It releases six print issues annually. History ''Fast Company'' was founded in November 1995 by Alan Webb ...

''s Fast 50; ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...

''s The Influentials."The Influentials: Books,"
''New York Magazine'' (May 5, 2006).

References

External links

Open Road Integrated Media website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Jane Living people American publishing chief executives George W. Hewlett High School alumni Year of birth missing (living people) People from The Five Towns, New York American women chief executives New York University alumni Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American women 21st-century American Jews