Staff
Mountaineers Books is home to a world-class staff that publishes your favorite guidebooks, narratives, photo books, and more! Meet our staff below and view our employment opportunities to join the team.
RON BANNER
DISTRIBUTION CENTER LEAD
Joined Staff: 2023
As a distribution center lead Ron picks, packs, and ships orders for retailers, wholesalers, and consumers. He also supports Joleen with the management of the distribution center.
Background: Ron was a press operator for 25 years, shifting to a warehousing role when the company closed.
Outdoor activities: fishing and playing the guitar in bands around Seattle and beyond.
DARRYL BOOKER
Director of Sales and Marketing
Joined Staff: 2005
Phone: 206-521-6054
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As the Director of Sales and Marketing, Darryl manages all aspects of Mountaineers Books sales and fulfillment, making sure customers get the service they deserve. He also manages Mountaineers Books publicity and marketing team, and handles foreign rights.
Background: Born and raised in the Midwest, Darryl now calls Washington home, as the state is the ideal destination for his outdoor pursuits, and Mountaineers Books is the perfect organization for him to embrace his passion for the outdoors, his love of books, and his dedication to conservation of our wild spaces.
Outdoor Activities: Backpacking, mountain biking, snowboarding, sea kayaking, and fly-fishing.
Helen Cherullo
Executive Director of Conservation and Advancement
Joined Staff: 1992
Phone: 206-521-6058
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Helen serves as executive director of Braided River, the conservation imprint of Mountaineers Books. Braided River partners with well-known conservation organizations to create awareness around environmental issues through the emotive power of books, and the media outreach, public events, traveling museum exhibits, and support for photographers' fieldwork that flow from those published works. Through images and stories that showcase the beauty and awe of the natural world, Braided River works to preserve endangered places and wildlife. Helen also works to sustain and support Mountaineers Books’ growing culture of philanthropy as a mission-driven nonprofit. Helen previously served as publisher of Mountaineers Books for 20 years.
Background: BA in Journalism, with a major in Fine Arts. Previous professional experience includes graphic design and advertising production, and being sole proprietor of a graphic design and printing management company. Helen's passion is in the nonprofit sector. She believes that supporting the health and well-being of society and future generations is paramount.
Outdoor Activities: Hiking, canoeing, photography, gardening.
ALISON CRABB
Associate Director, CUSTOMER SERVICE & Metadata
Joined Staff: 2018
Phone: 206-521-6053
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Alison solves problems for customers and makes sure the customer experience with Mountaineers Books is the best it can be. She also manages book data across platforms.
Outdoor Activities: Hiking, camping, backpacking, skiing, and pickleball.
PATRICK CRAWFORD
DISTRIBUTION ASSOCIATE
Joined Staff: 2023
As a distribution associate, Patrick carefully picks, packs, and ships books all across the country to help inform and educate others about the outdoors.
Background: Patrick was born and raised in West Seattle, and has always been an avid enjoyer of the outdoors
Outdoor Activities: Hiking, biking, snowboarding, fishing, and skateboarding.
ELLIS FAILOR-RICH
PRODUCTION & DESIGN ASSOCIATE
Joined Staff: 2024
Ellis works closely with the Creative Director and Editorial Department to produce beautiful and functional books.
Background: Ellis grew up in Olympia and has always called the Pacific Northwest home. After discovering the world of publication design during his time attending the University of Washington, Ellis’ passion for this wonderful design niche led him to Mountaineers Books.
Outdoor Activities: Ellis loves climbing, hiking, skiing, paddle boarding, and any adventure that comes his way.
JEN GRABLE
Creative Director
Joined Staff: 2013
Phone: 206-521-6060
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Jen judges books by their cover. She works on many of the cover and interior designs for Mountaineers Books, and also works closely with freelancers and printers to achieve the end result of a beautifully designed and printed book.
Background: After graduating with a degree in Graphic Design, Jen tried the agency life for a while and found it lacking. While living in Boise, she made the jump to publication design, and realized it was the perfect fit. After living almost everywhere else in the West, Jen finally found her way to Seattle where her love for gray skies, adventure, coffee, beer, design, and books can thrive.
Outdoor Activities: Jen has always enjoyed being outdoors, and grew up camping, skiing, and hiking. In the last few years she has discovered that bikes are life, and takes every opportunity to get out for a ride, even if it means braving Seattle traffic daily to ride to work. Bike touring & camping are her favorite ways to see new places. She also loves nothing more than traveling to a new country, and spending her days there wandering and eating.
Laura grange
Associate Director of Marketing
Joined Staff: 2020
Phone: 206-521-6063
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Laura manages all the marketing and social media for Mountaineers Books.
Background: Slowly making her way up the West Coast, Laura grew up in California, went to college in Oregon, and has called Seattle home since 2010. She holds a BA in English from Portland State University and completed New York University’s intensive Summer Publishing Institute program. She’s worked on literary magazines (including founding one in college, still going strong today!), newspapers, an e-commerce startup, and was the Marketing & Communications Manager for a green builder for six years before joining Mountaineers Books. She really, really loves dogs – she has two of her own and fosters rescue dogs through Dog Gone Seattle.
Outdoor Activities: Hiking, camping, backpacking, and gardening.
Gayle Grything
Accounting Manager and Human Resources
Joined Staff: 2002
Phone: 206-521-6057
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Gayle facilitates best accounting practices for Mountaineers Books, as well as Braided River. She oversees accounts payables and receivables, manages author royalties, and supports human resources and payroll.
Background: Gayle is a Northwest native and grew up in Seattle. Saltwater and moss are home. She came to Mountaineers Books in 2002 with accounting experience in the outdoor industry. Working at Mountaineers Books allows her to combine her lifelong love of the natural world and her desire to contribute to an organization that is a catalyst for environmental education, conservation and exploration.
Outdoor Activities: Sailing!, backpacking, XC skiing, SUP, naturalist studies and bird-nerding, travel, mountain biking and commuting by e-bike.
Tom Helleberg
Publisher
Joined Staff: 2018
Phone: 206-521-6069
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Tom manages and provides support to all areas of the company, working to achieve a balance between serving Mountaineers Books' inspiring mission and keeping the business running in a sustainable manner. Integrating our publishing program with The Mountaineers' outdoors activities and courses and sharing that mission with a global audience is core to our enterprise. Tom also manages finance and operations at Mountaineers Books. Mostly, Tom attends a lot of meetings.
Background:Tom has held a range of publishing positions over the past twenty-five years, primarily at academic and scholarly presses. In addition to his time as publisher, he has been a CFO, a production manager, an editorial assistant, a designer, and proprietor of a pre-press services company; this range of experience has resulted in a broad view of the business of publishing. He holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from the University of Alaska and an MBA in Corporate Finance and Strategy from the Stern School of Business at NYU.
Outdoor Activities: Tom has always embraced the activities of his region. Growing up in New England, he was a sailor; in Alaska, he worked as a guide in the Brooks Range; in New York, he was a Road Runner. Currently, the most prominent features in his immediate environment are two increasingly large kids who are able to carry almost their fair share of the water. Beyond exploring the trails and campgrounds of the northwest, activities include coaching youth soccer and track and getting better at kayaking.
MADISON HOFER-HOLDEMAN
sales representative
Joined Staff: 2024
Phone: 206-521-6070
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Madison is excited to be working for Mountaineers Books as the Sales Representative.
Background: Madison is from the flat plains of Kansas, moved to Seattle in 2023, and now is in love with the Emerald City. She grew up camping often with family and reading many, many books. She’s excited to call Mountaineers Books home.
Outdoor Activities: hiking, camping, kayaking, canoeing, and pickleball.
jordan jackson
distribution center associate
Joined Staff: 2024
As a distribution associate, Jordan carefully picks, packs, and ships books all across the country to help inform and educate others about the outdoors.
In his free time, Jordan likes to hike, play, and watch anything sport-related.
kate jay
publicist
Joined Staff: 2021
Phone: 206-521-6068
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As one of our publicists, Kate works directly with authors and the media to spread the news about Mountaineers Books. Through events and press, Kate’s goal is to get the right book into the hands of the right person.
Background: Growing up in Oregon, Kate spent endless hours on the coast, in the mountains, and anywhere else Doug firs grow. After graduating from Portland State University with a BA in English and Marketing, Kate’s love of all things books led her to publishing and the wild world of book publicity. After a stint in the comics industry, Kate found the perfect place to combine her love of books and passion for conservation at Mountaineers Books.
Outdoor Activities: Kate loves camping, hiking, paddleboarding, and foraging for all the tasty things that can be found in the woods.
beth jusino
editor
Joined Staff: 2024
Phone: 206-521-6066
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Beth shepherds a dozen titles per year through the editing and production process—a position that uniquely incorporates her passions for working with written words, encouraging people to get outside, and making detailed to-do lists.
Background: Beth first came to Mountaineers Books as an author (Walking to the End of the World: A Thousand Miles on the Camino de Santiago), then as a freelance developmental editor, and finally convinced them to let her join the staff. She has more than 20 years of professional experience in book publishing, including editorial, marketing, literary agenting, independent consulting, and ghostwriting. She continues to teach and serve on the advisory board for the University of Washington’s Certificate in Editing program.
Outdoor Activities: Hiking, kayaking, backpacking (if the payoff is worth it), archery, indoor bouldering, and whatever catches her attention this week.
JANET KIMBALL
MANAGING EDITOR
Joined Staff: 1997 to 2002, marketing; 2007 to 2008, project editing; 2016 joined full time again in her current role.
Phone: 206-521-6059
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Janet originally joined the staff at Mountaineers Books in 1997, rejoined in 2007, and, as the living embodiment of recycling, happily returned again in 2016. In her role as managing editor, she oversees the editorial process from manuscript to bound books.
Background: With a BA in journalism, Janet has worked in all corners of publishing for houses both large and small, including Little, Brown, Harvard Business School Press, and Graphic Arts Center Publishing. She worked in international sales, production, publicity, sales, and marketing before returning to her first love, editorial. In between stints at Mountaineers, she worked as a freelance editor, focusing on developmental, line, and project editing.
Outdoor Activities: A fourth-generation Oregonian and lover of the Puget Sound region, Janet loves to get outside anywhere in the Pacific Northwest for hiking, camping, skiing, cycling, paddleboarding, and huckleberry picking. She also helps care for a herd of six horses and enjoys rambling rides under sunny skies.
MARISSA LITAK
Senior PUBLICIST
Joined Staff: 2018
Phone: 206-521-6065
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Marissa gets the word out about new Mountaineers Books titles by contacting press, coordinating media coverage, and scheduling author events. She works closely with authors and media to get new titles in front of readers who are looking for their next great adventure.
Background: Marissa is a Pacific Northwesterner through and through. She grew up in Oregon and attended college at the University of Puget Sound, where she picked up a degree in English Literature. She has worked at a number of independent book publishers across the country, but inevitably found her way home to her much-beloved cloudy Seattle skies.
Outdoor Activities: Marissa loves hiking, camping, kayaking, swimming, picnicking, and exploring the natural world, especially with a canine companion at her side.
Liz Penning
Accounting and Office Coordinator
Joined Staff: 2021
Phone: 206-521-6061
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Background: Liz was born and raised in Minneapolis. After years of exploring the land of 10,000 lakes, she ventured onto bigger, better, and taller things-the mountains of the PNW. Since moving to Seattle, she has become involved in even more outdoor activities and now feels right at home surrounded by hundreds of Mountaineers Books guidebooks.
Outdoor Activities: Sport climbing and bouldering, skiing, backpacking, hiking, camping, paddleboarding, mountaineering, photography, and urban exploring with her dog, Basil.
SHARIEF RODRIQUEZ
DISTRIBUTION CENTER Lead
Joined Staff: 2009
Phone: 206-521-6052
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Sharief is a steady influence in Mountaineers Books distribution effort, making sure that orders move swiftly out of our distribution center.
Outdoor Activities: Sharief loves to take his son out on walks on small trails whenever he gets the opportunity to do so. He says he's also a huge outdoor sports guy, so if it can be done outside, chances are Sharief will be out there trying it.
KATE ROGERS
EDITOR IN CHIEF
Joined Staff: 2006
Phone: 206-521-6062
Kate acquires and develops all the books that we publish and oversees all of our editorial and production processes.
Background: Kate's publishing career has spanned more than thirty years, including positions at Waldenbooks, Bantam Doubleday Dell, and Sasquatch Books, and as founder–principle of her own book packaging firm. A graduate of the Denver Publishing Institute, she also has been a part-time lecturer on editing, publishing, and general media at the University of Washington and Seattle's community colleges. Kate loves to cook and gather friends and family around her table for delicious homemade meals. She's an avid reader, museum goer, and traveler. A few of her favorite places are Desolation Sound, Point Reyes National Seashore, the north shore of Kauai, the east cape of Baja, the coast of Maine, and anywhere in Alaska. She and her husband live in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood with their very spoiled Shepard mix, Kevin.
Outdoor Activities: Hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, sailing, walking, birding, gardening.
LAURA SHAUGER
SENIOR EDITOR
Joined Staff: 2014
Phone: 206-521-6064
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Laura manages about a dozen titles through copy editing and production each year, including how-to and where-to books for Mountaineers Books, sustainable lifestyle titles for Skipstone, and conservation titles for Braided River. Collaborating with several dozen volunteer contributors, she is the project editor for Mountaineering: The Freedom of the Hills. Laura enjoys contemplating the stars from her sleeping bag, climbing with friends, practicing yoga, trail running, reading a well-crafted story, and spending quality time with family and friends.
Background: Raised in the southern US, Laura studied English literature in college and graduated from NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute. She worked at Facts On File in NYC and Wilderness Press in Berkeley and as a freelance editor and project manager with nonprofits and publishers for several years.
Outdoor Activities: Rock climbing, mountaineering, hiking, backpacking, trail running, scrambling, paddling, watching the light change in the mountains, and whatever else sparks her interest.
JOLEEN SIMMONS
DISTRIBUTION CENTER SUPERVISOR
Joined Staff: 2016
Phone: 206-521-6052
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Joleen is our Distribution Center Supervisor. Our warehouse is filled with thousands upon thousands upon thousands upon thousands of books, and Joleen somehow manages to keep everything running smoothly and under control.
Background: Joleen came to Mountaineers Books experienced in distribution services. She is also looking for suggestions for songs about "Joleen" -- she already knows the Dolly Parton one -- so if you have any suggestions, let her know!
Stephon spearman
DISTRIBUTION CENTER LEAD
Joined Staff: 2023
Phone: 206-521-6052
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As a distribution center lead Stephon picks, packs, and ships orders for retailers, wholesalers, and consumers. He also supports Joleen with the management of the distribution center. He has three dogs, one of which is Zola, often found in the distribution center fetching orders and being adorable.
Background: Stephon has over 12 years of experience in logistics and materials handling and 8 years of forklift operations.
Emily WHITE
Acquisitions Editor
Joined Staff: 2018
Emily acquires and develops manuscripts.
Background: Emily has 17 years of publishing experience in roles from marketing manager to publicist to editor, starting with Heyday Books and News from Native California magazine in Berkeley, CA. She’s also worked as a dairy farmer, a snowboarding instructor, and a sea kayak guide.
Outdoor activities: Messing about in small boats, wandering deep in the mountains, riding bikes in search of pie.