Publishing Titan Award 

Madeline McIntosh has worked in books ever since moving to New York after college. 

After getting her start as an editorial assistant at W. W. Norton, she moved to the Random House predecessor Bantam Doubleday Dell in 1994, as an assistant in the New Media department. Her early experiences with emerging technologies included launching the industry’s first comprehensive website and establishing the first online sales department. She went on to direct adult sales for the company and then to serve as audio publisher just at the digital inflection point for that business. Having been bitten by the digital bug, she served in 2008 and 2009 as the director of Kindle Content Acquisition for Amazon, based in Luxembourg.

In 2010, Madeline returned to New York and to Random House as president of Sales, Operations and Digital. When Random House and Penguin announced their merger in 2013, she was asked to lead the U.S. integration with Penguin, and later was named the president of the Penguin Publishing Group. In 2018, she was appointed the first CEO of Penguin Random House U.S.

Madeline serves on the Board of Directors of Poets & Writers and of Sourcebooks. 

She lives in New York with her husband, writer Chris Pavone; their twin sons, Sam and Alex; and Wally the labradoodle.

Harry Scherman Service Award 

Rachel Chou is the senior vice president, associate publisher of Celadon Books, a division of Macmillan. In this role, she oversees marketing, publicity, and sales integration for Celadon’s fiction and nonfiction titles. With more than 25 years of experience, Rachel is a proven leader in the fields of consumer insights, content marketing, customer acquisition, advertising, and merchandising.

Prior to Celadon Books, Rachel worked as the general manager for Open Road Integrated Media, directing day-to-day product and business operations, growth strategy, and editorial partnerships. As an executive with the company, she worked closely with the CEO and president on corporate initiatives, including HR, strategic growth, and board management. 

Over the course of her career, Rachel has led teams in the areas of search, content management, creation, and syndication. Prior to Open Road, Rachel was vice president, online product development for HarperCollins Publishers. She worked across divisions on digital strategy and on the creation of new digital publishing businesses. She also proudly served as chair of UJA’s Publishing Division for nearly a decade. 

In her earliest career days, Rachel taught fourth grade at a public school in Montgomery County, Maryland. Rachel has a B.S. from the University of Maryland and an M.S. from Bank Street College of Education.

Mo Rocca is an Emmy-winning correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning, host of the Mobituaries podcast, co-author of The New York Times best-selling Mobituaries: Great Lives Worth Reliving, and a frequent panelist on NPR’s hit weekly quiz show Wait, Wait...Don’t Tell Me! He’s the host of Innovation Nation Saturdays on CBS and creator/host of Cooking Channel’s My Grandmother’s Ravioli, in which he traveled the country learning to cook from America’s grandparents. He got his start on television as a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He appeared on Broadway in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Other stage credits include Fairycakes (Off-Broadway) and the Southeast Asia tour of Grease. Rocca is also the author of 2004’s All the Presidents’ Pets: The Story of One Reporter who Refused to Roll Over.