Tony Fisk accepts life membership of PANZ

From PANZ Newsletter - Kevin Chapman (left) reporting:

Following last week’s PANZ AGM I had the honour of emailing Tony in the UK as follows:
“I am very pleased to advise that, at the PANZ AGM on Tuesday evening, you were accorded Life Membership of the Association in recognition of the service and leadership you have provided to the industry.

The motion was made by David Joel, read by Karen Ferns, and passed by acclamation.
 We are all very pleased to see you acknowledged in this way, and it is a great pity that your presence on the other (wrong) side of the world meant we could not deliver this news in person.
 A certificate will be prepared, and if you are likely to be back in the reasonably near future, it would be good to arrange to have that presented in person.” 

Tony (left) replied:
Thank you so much. I am totally amazed and humbled by this truly fantastic honour. This award has always gone to people who contributed far more than I could ever have done so I am totally flabbergasted and thrilled to receive it. I thoroughly enjoyed my time being part of the New Zealand publishing industry and benefitted hugely both personally and professionally from my involvement with the various trade associations over the years.
In particular, my time with PANZ was great. The collegial nature of the organization and the variety of participating publishers added a dimension to my role which was very rewarding.
2012 is going to be an amazing year for PANZ. The Frankfurt Country of Honour events will be a milestone which people will regard for years to come as a triumph for the organization.

Karen Ferns steps down

Karen (right) did not offer herself for re-election to Council only because her new responsibilities across the Australian and New Zealand Random House businesses will make it difficult for her to fulfil the workload. Karen has brought great energy and knowledge to her time on Council and has agreed to be co-opted for specific roles in future. I do thank her for her work in the immediate past and for her offer for the upcoming period.

They’ve borrowed our line…

The NZ Herald website uses it for their Olympic coverage, as in: OLYMPICS: While You Were Sleeping
  
New Council Member

Graham Mitchell, HarperCollins NZ Managing Director, was elected to Council at the AGM. We welcome Graham, who brings strong financial skills to his new role.

– Kevin Chapman

Introducing Graham Mitchell

Yes, it is a Glaswegian twang in new Councillor Graham Mitchell’s voice, and yes he is ultimately here because he married a Kiwi. That was here in 1995, after which he and Sharon returned to Glasgow and Graham worked for HarperCollins initially in Glasgow then later in London. After the birth of Molly, now 13, and Tom, 11, the family emigrated to New Zealand. Graham joined HarperCollins NZ in April 2002 as Financial Controller. Earlier this year he succeeded the retiring Tony Fisk and moved to the position of General Manager NZ.
 It has been a learning curve for Graham since then, as he has had to become familiar with other parts of the business. However he’s found this a challenge he enjoys, and even good fun.
 As a reader his taste runs to classic crime novels by Elizabeth George and Stuart MacBride. Recently he has re-read the Sherlock Holmes novels, but apart from whodunnits you’ll find him reading non-fiction.