UNC Press Announces Two New Appointments at Longleaf Services

The University of North Carolina Press announced today the hiring of two new positions at its affiliate unit, Longleaf Services. Clay Farr has been named Executive Director of Publishing Services, and Lisa Stallings has been named Editorial, Design, and Production Manager.

Clay Farr has more than two decades of book industry experience, most recently as the Associate Publisher at Basic Books in New York. Previously, he was Vice President of Marketing for the Perseus Books Group.

Lisa Stallings also comes with more than twenty years of experience, most notably at Oxford University Press and as EDP Manager at the University of Arizona Press.

Both of the new positions are associated with a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that the Press received in January to create a scaled publishing services platform for the publication of high-quality digital monographs by university presses. Longleaf will create cost efficiencies and economies of scale on a broad range of digital publishing activities, including copyediting, composition, production, operations, and marketing services.

Robbie Dircks, President of Longleaf Services said, “As Longleaf Services embarks on its tenth year of operations, the new publishing tools being developed and offered to our current and future client publishing partners will help to transform and make more efficient the process of publishing academic monographs.” Stallings commented, “I’m both honored and excited to be working on such an important new initiative.” Farr said, “I’m looking forward to engaging with our partners in the university press community to make this new venture a major success.” John Sherer, Spangler Family Director of UNC Press, concluded, “We are very fortunate to be able to bring in such a talented and experienced pair of publishing professionals.”

Founded in 1922, UNC Press is the oldest university press in the South and one of the oldest in the United States.

Longleaf Services Inc. provides total fulfillment services for not-for-profit scholarly publishers. Operating with a collaborative philosophy, it enables client publishers to enhance their competitiveness, improve operating efficiencies, and create economies of scale, resulting in better service to their customers and lowering overall operating costs for both publisher and book buyer. A 501(c)3 organization, Longleaf Services commenced operations in 2006 and serves six university press publishers.