BIGNY "Groundbreaking Women: The Second Wave": More About Barbara Marcus

Barbara Marcus

Here's a brief professional biography of Barbara Marcus, one of the three panelists who will join the Book Industry Guild of New York's (BIGNY) April 12, 2016 panel discussion "Groundbreaking Women: The Second Wave."

Barbara Marcus is President and Publisher of Random House Children’s Books, where she is responsible for overseeing all of its publishing and business activities.  Random House Children’s Books publishes many of the world’s bestselling and most highly acclaimed authors and illustrators for young people today, including Dr. Seuss, Carl Hiaasen, Christopher Paolini, Sophie Kinsella, Philip Pullman, Leo Lionni, James Dashner, Brandon Sanderson, Louis Sachar, Richard Scarry, and Markus Zusak, and is home to many of the most recognizable series licenses and characters in the world, such as Barbie, the Berenstain Bears, Disney, Little Golden Books, Nickelodeon, Pat theBunny, Junie B. Jones, and Magic Tree House.

Prior to joining Random House in 2012, Marcus was Advisor to Open Road Integrated Media in the area of children’s digital publishing and general strategy.  She also served as Strategic Innovations Advisor to Penguin Books USA, focusing on new ventures and publishing opportunities. 

Before that, Ms. Marcus served as President, Scholastic Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution, where she was responsible for all children’s consumer book publishing and distribution in the United States, through school-based book clubs, school-based and direct-to-home continuity programs, school-based book fairs and the retail channel for over 20 years.  During her tenure, she led the expansion of the business from approximately 50 million dollars to over 1 billion dollars in annual revenue.  After acquiring J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for publication in the United States in 1998, she also led the publishing effort for six of the seven Harry Potter titles.