The Crown Team

David Drake is President of Crown and Currency. A 20-year veteran of Penguin Random House, he also co-leads the Clarkson Potter, Ten Speed Press, and Harmony and Rodale Books imprints at Random House Publishing Group, which, together with Crown and Currency, comprise one of the most diverse nonfiction publishing programs within Penguin Random House. From 2013 through 2018, he served as Deputy Publisher of the Crown Publishing Group, in which capacity he oversaw the marketing, publicity, and business development departments and directed publishing strategy for major publications.

Gillian Blake SVP, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Crown and Currency. Previously she was Editor-In-Chief at Henry Holt. She also acquires and edits select titles. Her editorial focus is on narrative nonfiction, history, memoir, science, current events, popular culture, and biography. She has edited many prize-winning and bestselling authors, including former First Lady Michelle Obama, Elizabeth Kolbert, Matthew McConaughey, Susan Cain, Tina Brown, Adrian Nicole Leblanc, Ai Weiwei, Andy Cohen, Elton John, Jaron Lanier, Peggy Orenstein, Pamela Paul, Steven Johnson, Bari Weiss, Russell Brand, Rob Lowe, Brandi Carlile, Harold Bloom, and A.J. Jacobs.

Annsley Rosner is SVP and Deputy Publisher of Crown and Currency. As Deputy Publisher, she works on all aspects of the Crown and Currency programs, overseeing frontlist and backlist strategy and operations, to launch books and position them in the marketplace. She has been at Penguin Random House for over 20 years—with positions including senior publicity roles at Crown, Dutton, and Vintage Books—and has worked with a wide range of bestselling authors including President George W. Bush, Erik Larson, Matthew Desmond, Secretary Timothy Geithner, Ben Macintyre, Gillian Flynn, Alice Hoffman, Rebecca Skloot, Susan Cain, and Sheri Fink.

Amanda Cook is VP and Editorial Director at Crown. She publishes idea-driven and narrative nonfiction, and has worked with a wide range of writers and scholars, including bestselling authors Erik Larson and Rebecca Skloot, Pulitzer Prize winners Tom Reiss and Sheri Fink, journalists Jay Caspian Kang and Lizzie Johnson, philosopher Kate Manne, and Whiting Award winner Sarah Stewart Johnson. Her recent books include Matthew Desmond’s Evicted, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in Nonfiction, Erik Larson’s The Splendid and the Vile and Dead Wake, both#1 New York Times bestsellers, Nate Blakeslee’s American Wolf, shortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Prize, Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction, longlisted for the National Book Award, and Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s bestselling How Democracies Die.

Isabela Alcantara joined Crown in 2021 as a Publishing Assistant, working with David Drake and Annsley Rosner. She provides administrative support for the publishing office and contributes to strategic business projects by creating presentations, conducting sales and marketplace research, managing budgets for priority projects, and coordinating department meetings.

Katie Berry is an Assistant Editor at Crown. She is interested in cultural criticism, history, and narrative nonfiction, especially on nature, feminism, or art. A former Crown intern, she joined the team as an Editorial Assistant in 2020 and has since helped develop and publish books by Jay Caspian Kang, Barbara Walter, Matthew Desmond, Kate Manne, Maureen Johnson, and Erik Larson, among others.

Libby Burton is an Executive Editor at Crown. She publishes both practical and narrative nonfiction with an eye for stories and insight from traditionally underrepresented voices. She has edited a wide range of award-winning and bestselling authors including Stacey Abrams, Katie Porter, Mariah Carey, Melissa Broder, Jessica Valenti, Lyz Lenz, Aurora James, and Ai Weiwei. Previously she worked as an editor at Henry Holt & Company, Twelve Books, and Grand Central Publishing, and is the author of the poetry collection Soft Volcano.

Kevin Doughten, VP and Executive Editor, edits a range of story-driven nonfiction books on history, politics, biography, and culture. Throughout his career, he has worked with many bestselling authors, including scholars Prof. Eddie S. Glaude Jr. (Begin Again) and Adam Grant (Give and Take), Pulitzer Prize–winning historians Manning Marable (Malcolm X) and Kai Bird (The Outlier), award-winning journalists Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes (Shattered) and Sam Anderson (Boom Town), and true-spy-story master Ben Macintyre (The Spy and the Traitor), as well as artists from John Cleese to Phil Collins to Robbie Robertson.

Michelle Giuseffi, Senior Publishing Manager, focuses on the Crown and Currency backlist and paperback program, from frontlist publications to movie- and TV-tie-in editions to books that are newly relevant to the zeitgeist due to current events. Michelle works closely with the publishing team on marketplace analysis, and she collaborates with the inventory team to make sure Crown and Currency books remain in stock and ready for readers to enjoy. Previously, she worked in marketing at the Penguin Publishing Group.

Fariza Hawke, Assistant Editor at Crown, Currency, and Ten Speed Press, is interested in compelling narrative nonfiction and voice-driven memoirs that can speak to music, pop culture, feminism, intersectionality, and/or social justice. Prior to joining Crown, she was at HMH/Mariner where she coedited titles such as She Memes Well by Quinta Brunson, Wanderlust by Reid Mitenbuler, and Lovers in Auschwitz by Keren Blankfeld. She also assisted on numerous New York Times bestselling books, including The 99% Invisible City by Roman Mars and Kurt Kohlstedt, Make Change by Shaun King, and No One Asked for This by Cazzie David. She also provided support on various projects published by the J.R.R. Tolkien estate.

Matt Inman, Executive Editor, Crown and Ten Speed Press, loves distinctive voices, immersive journeys, and books that entertain as they teach. He’s looking for narrative and illustrated nonfiction, including memoir, biography, cultural history, humor, pop culture, pop reference, and art/photography. Matt has acquired and edited New York Times bestsellers by Matthew McConaughey, Rhett & Link, Jimmy Chin, The Moth, Conor Knighton, and The Onion. His forthcoming authors include Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Andrew Rannells, Mike Matheny, the New York Times, and Gracie Gold, and he has collaborated with the creative teams at NPR, The Crown, Black Mirror, and Shark Tank.

Madison Jacobs, Senior Publishing Manager, serves as the project manager for high-profile publications and campaigns across Crown and the Random House Publishing Group, including for the global publication of Spare by Prince Harry and books by former First Lady Michelle Obama and former President Barack Obama. She also works closely with the Crown publishing office on business development projects and marketplace analysis.

Rachel Klayman is VP and Executive Editor at Crown. She is the editor of Barack Obama’s A Promised Land and The Audacity of Hope, both #1 New York Times bestsellers. Other bestselling books she has acquired and/or edited include Rachel Maddow’s Drift and Blowout, Peter Bergen’s Manhunt, Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Susan Cain’s Quiet, Ai Weiwei’s 1000 Years of Joys and Sorrows, John Elder Robison’s Look Me in the Eye, and Carlos Eire’s Waiting for Snow in Havana, winner of the National Book Award in nonfiction. She is currently working on the second volume of Obama’s presidential memoir. 

Amy Li, Associate Editor at Crown and Currency, joined the team in 2021 from McGraw-Hill Business, where she edited Erica Keswin’s Wall Street Journal bestsellers Bring Your Human to Work and Rituals Roadmap. She is passionate about publishing diverse voices and is interested in narrative driven works in the areas of current affairs, social justice (especially Asian American issues), social science, investigative journalism, memoir, history, and politics, as well as big idea books by thought leaders in business. Since joining Crown, she has worked with bestselling authors including Tina Brown, Susan Cain, A.J. Jacobs, and Johann Hari. 

Aubrey Martinson is an associate editor at Crown and aims to publish books that spark change and conversation, with a focus on social justice, investigative journalism, science, unknown history, memoir, and pop culture. Her authors include Alexa Hagerty, Adam Benforado, Frances Mayes, Bridget Read, Megan Kimble, Geraldine DeRuiter, Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers, and Maikel Kuijpers. Aubrey has also worked with bestselling authors including David Wallace-Wells, Brandi Carlile, Timothy Snyder, Michiko Kakutani, Seth Rogen, Eric Idle, and Michael K. Williams.

Madhulika Sikka is VP and Executive Editor at Crown. She joined Crown in 2020 after an award-winning career in journalism across all platforms, holding leadership positions at major news outlets including ABC News, NPR and The Washington Post. She is interested in a broad range of memoir, reported narrative nonfiction, and even some humor. Her list includes the New York Times bestseller Scenes from My Life by Michael K. Williams, authors Carmen Rita Wong, Helena Andrews-Dyer, Rana Foroohar, Dr. Sharon Malone, and Professor Dorothy Brown. She’s interested in elevating stories that open the aperture of how we look at the world and how we engage with each other. She is herself a Crown author of A Breast Cancer Alphabet (2014) so she can empathize with all her authors about the challenge of bringing a book to the world.

Leah Trouwborst, Senior Editor, Crown and Currency, edits big-idea, expert-driven nonfiction and story-driven nonfiction, focusing on behavioral science, business, technology, and economics, as well as reported narrative and memoir that explore hidden influences on our decisions, health, emotions, and relationships. Over the course of her career she has worked with computer scientist Julie Zhuo, entrepreneur Marie Forleo, designer Ryder Carroll, therapist KC Davis, reporter Christian Davenport, psychologist Tessa West, cybersecurity expert Frank Abagnale, and writer Laura Vanderkam. Previously, she has held positions at Simon Element/S&S and Portfolio/PRH, where she edited ten national bestsellers. 

Paul Whitlatch, Executive Editor, joined Crown in 2019 after previous positions at Hachette, Scribner, and Norton. He acquires for the Crown and Currency lists, with a focus on adventurous narrative nonfiction, current events, popular history, business journalism, and thought leaders in business and technology. Bestsellers acquired by Whitlatch include Code Girls by Liza Mundy, Billion Dollar Whale by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope, The Precipice by Toby Ord, A Message from Ukraine by Volodymyr Zelensky, and The Cult of We by Eliot Brown and Maureen Farrell. His current authors at Crown and Currency include Liza Mundy, Jimmy Wales, Mustafa Suleyman, Kai-Fu Lee, Andy Dunn, Zeke Faux, Bradley Hope, Liz Hoffman, Alexis Coe, Marshall Goldsmith, and Gary Stevenson.