David Lamb

David Lamb General Information

Biography

Mr. David Lamb serves as a Partner at Book Advisors. He is an investment banker and consultant with four decades of experience in publishing and the information industry. In the consumer book publishing sphere, he has operated since 2015 as Book Advisors LLC with partner Susan Reich. Together they have completed transactions with The McEvoy Group/Chronicle Books, Counterpoint Publishing, Hachette Livre, Rowman and Littlefield, and Laurence King Publishing. Working with Goldmark Advisers, he helped conclude the divestiture of Leisure Arts, a crafts publisher, and supplier, for Comcast Corporation. Recent clients have included several private equity firms seeking an in-depth review of trade publishing in both the U.S. and the U.K. In academic and scientific publishing, he collaborates with Clarke & Esposito Strategy, where he is Practice Lead for M&A. Recent consulting and transaction clients include the American National Standards Institute, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New England Journal of Medicine, the American Astronomical Society, the Mathematical Association of America, and ANSI, the American National Standards Institute. Earlier, as president of GSL Publishing Associates from 1996 to 2009, he executed significant sell-side transactions in publishing. His completed transactions include Motorbooks to Quarto plc (2007, $35 million), Timber Press to Workman (2006, undisclosed), Sterling Publishing to Barnes & Noble (2003, $122 million, co-broker), Avalon to Perseus (2007, undisclosed), Publishers Group West to AMS (2002, $38 million). His buy-side and consulting clientele included assignments from Penguin Random House, Workman Publishing, Chronicle Books, Egmont, HarperCollins, Publishers Group West, and Beacon Press among others. From 2009 to 2012 he owned and operated Vantage Press, a consumer self-publishing company. At Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) from 1984 to 1995, he was a Managing Director in a leading media investment bank with transaction responsibility covering all communications industry sectors with an emphasis on strategic mergers and acquisitions transactions for major firms. As chief general transaction strategist for the firm, he presented strategic alternatives to many companies including Reed Elsevier, Time Warner, Times Mirror, The Walt Disney Company, Paramount Communications, GTE, Hachette, United Newspapers, and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts. He began his career as a consultant and Director of New Media at Link Resources, an IDG company. He holds an A.B. from Harvard College. He divides his time between Portland, Oregon, and New York City.