Jewish Publication Society Head Stepping Down
By Marcia Z. Nelson -- Publishers Weekly, 6/18/2009 9:59:00 AM
Ellen Frankel, CEO and editor-in-chief of The Jewish Publication Society, is stepping down from her position Aug. 1. Frankel will remain as a consultant and editor emerita to JPS; COO and publishing director Carol Hupping will serve as interim CEO.
“I love what I do at JPS and I also love to write, and I’ve found that I cannot keep up the pace,” said Frankel, 58, whose ninth book, The Jewish Publication Society Illustrated Children’s Bible, will be published in August. Frankel has been editor-in-chief since 1991 and CEO since 1998. Under her leadership, JPS produced the 1999 Hebrew-English Tanakh, with a JPS translation, and The Commentators’ Bible, an English-language edition of a rabbinic classic. JPS’ Bible program is now being expanded through the Tagged Tanakh, an innovative and collaborative learning platform. “Content delivery is changing,” Frankel said. “The Jewish Publication Society is not going to be a publisher anymore but a knowledge business.”
“Ellen has upheld the mantle of a great tradition in scholarship as well as leading us to the next phase of JPS’ mission to bring our content to new audiences online,” David Lerman, president of the JPS Board of Trustees, said in a statement. JPS is a nonprofit, multi-denominational Philadelphia-based publisher of Jewish works written in English.
Frankel, who has a Ph.D. in comparative literature from Princeton University, is a scholar of Jewish folklore. She has a number of projects ready to pursue. “I have so many writing projects on the back burner, I’m not sure which one I’ll tackle first, but I have a long list,” she said.
