When Barry L. Schwartz began his first job in the publishing industry on July 1, he started at the top: CEO of the 122-year-old Jewish Publication Society.

At 52, Schwartz brings an unusual yet relevant résumé to an institution known for producing scholarly as well as popular Jewish titles. A Reform rabbi, he’s served on JPS’s rabbinic advisory board as well as its editorial committee. He’s authored four books, including a widely used textbook: Jewish Heroes, Jewish Values (Behrman House, 1996). And for 25 years, he’s taught Jews as a synagogue leader.

“Jewish publishers in particular have to face the future,” Schwartz said. “That involves really knowing who our community is, how members of the Jewish community learn, and what our passions are. That is something I’m very familiar with as a teacher and as a student.”

For Schwartz, who holds degrees from Duke University and Hebrew College, being an educator is both a passion and an inheritance. He grew up in New York’s Hudson Valley, where his mother taught preschoolers and his father taught history to high school students. From 1999 to 2010, he led Congregation M’kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, N.J. Now he aims to help educate a diverse cross-section of Jews through JPS.

Schwartz’s first order of business is to guide JPS into the digital age. Though JPS is producing new titles in e-book form, the organization needs to explore new business models as declining print sales and downward pressure on prices take a toll, Schwartz said. To date, JPS has relied on philanthropists to bankroll major projects, but he doubts that formula can continue indefinitely.

“We’re still struggling to figure out how to remain financially viable in the world of e-publishing,” Schwartz said. “We recognize that we will need partnerships, and part of my mandate is to explore that.”

Among the long-term options for JPS: teaming up with a university, a Jewish foundation, or another Jewish publishing house. Whatever unfolds, Schwartz wants to be sure JPS keeps facilitating what he called “deep reading” of Torah and related topics in a time when short attention spans are all too common.

“Whether it’s reading for yourself or wrestling with a text in a study community, that involves books—and not just a digest of something on the Internet,” Schwartz said.