At its annual membership meeting on March 22, the Independent Book Publishers Association conferred six new members to its board of directors. The board members, who will each serve two year terms beginning July 1, were initially announced in February. The six new members join a 13 member board, presided by board Chair Deltina Hay.

"We're excited to welcome such a diverse group of individuals to our board of directors," said IBPA executive director Angela Bole. "Each brings to the board valuable hands-on experience and a commitment to service that suits IBPA's mission to lead and serve the independent publishing community."

The new members include Brenda Avadian, who founded the Los Angeles-based North Star Books in 1992. Jim Milliot is co-editorial director of Publishers Weekly and v-p of PWxyz, the company that acquired PW from Reed in April 2010. Milliot has been with PW for 20 years. Shannon Okey, founder of Cooperative Press, has also written a dozen books for major publishers, including the Knitgrrl series. Rob Price is the president and founder of Price World Publishing, Belmont & Belcourt Books, and BookBullet.com. Mark Suchomel is the president of Legato Publishers Group, a distribution division of the Perseus Books Group, and was formerly the president of the Independent Publishers Group and Trafalgar Square Publishing. Brooke Warner is publisher of She Writes Press, president of Warner Coaching Inc., and author of What's Your Book? and How to Sell Your Memoir.