From Reflection to Readiness: The 2025 Supply Chain Recap and 2026 Outlook

2025 Supply Chain Recap and 2026 Outlook

As 2025 comes to a close, the publishing industry finds itself at another pivotal moment. After a year shaped by shifting trade policies, evolving production models, sustainability regulations, and the growing influence of technology, what have we learned—and what lies ahead?

Join us for our final Supply Chain Lunch & Learn of the year. This session will take stock of the key developments that defined 2025 and explore the trends, challenges, and opportunities that will shape 2026.

This conversation will be led by KEN BROOKS, Chair of BISG’s Supply Chain Committee and Executive Vice President of Supply Chain at Amplify Education, a K–12 publisher of reading, science, and math curricula products. Ken also serves as President of Treadwell Media Group, a consulting firm focused on operations, technology, and strategy in the education and trade publishing sectors.

As Chair of BISG’s Supply Chain Committee, Ken leads the committee's efforts to improve communication of product data and specifications across the supply chain. The committee works to identify trends that help publishers, retailers, and manufacturers better plan for product and inventory availability, establish standards for best practices, and promote transparency and efficiency across the book ecosystem.

Topics to be covered include:

• Major supply chain developments and lessons learned in 2025

• Shifts in global manufacturing and logistics, and what they mean for U.S. publishing

• Early indicators for 2026: capacity, pricing, sustainability, and technology

• Actionable strategies for publishers, printers, and distributors to stay adaptive and resilient

Whether you’ve joined us for past sessions or are attending for the first time, this year-end Lunch & Learn will provide an essential recap and a forward-looking perspective to help you plan confidently for 2026.

Who Should Attend:

Publishers, supply chain executives, production managers, operations leaders, manufacturers, distributors, and anyone seeking to understand where the industry stands—and where it’s headed next.

Thank you to our December Lunch & Learn Sponsor, VERSA PRESS

Featured Speaker

KEN BROOKS is the EVP of Supply Chain at Amplify Education, a K12 publisher of reading, science and math curricula products. He is also the president of Treadwell Media Group, a publishing and operations, technology and strategy consulting firm focused on the education and trade publishing sectors. Over the course of his career, Ken has founded digital services companies both in the U.S. and abroad; a public domain publishing imprint; and a distribution-center based print-on-demand operation and has worked in trade, professional, higher education and K-12 publishing sectors. Prior to Amplify and Treadwell he was the Chief Content Officer for the Academic and Professional Learning division of Wiley, and the Chief Operating Officer of Macmillan Learning. Prior to Macmillan he has held senior positions at McGraw-Hill Education, Cengage Learning, Barnes & Noble, Simon & Schuster, and Random House. Ken is also the chairperson of the Book Industry Study Group’s Supply Chain Committee.

About the Supply Chain Lunch & Learn Series

BISG's Supply Chain Lunch & Learns are always highly interactive, so you'll have a chance to contribute at the session. If you have any specific questions you'd like us to cover in this Lunch & Learn, you may send them in advance to info@bisg.org or simply add them to the chat during the session.

To allow participants to speak—and not just type questions—these sessions are conducted in a Zoom meeting (rather than webinar) format. Please take a moment to ensure that your microphone is muted until you'd like to contribute. While we encourage you to attend the live session, the conversation will be recorded and shared with registrants after the session takes place.