BISG Names Kris Kliemann Recipient of 2026 Industry Champion Award
The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) has named KRIS KLIEMANN, founder of Kliemann & Company, LLC and longtime chair of BISG’s Rights Committee, as the recipient of its 2026 Industry Champion Award. The award honors an individual whose efforts have advanced the publishing industry as a whole.
Kliemann will be recognized during BISG@50: Book Publishing Next Forum & Anniversary Celebration, taking place Wednesday, September 16, 2026, at The New York Historical in New York City.
Kliemann is being honored for her longstanding leadership in advancing rights management across the publishing industry and, in particular, her work to bring greater standardization, transparency, and accessibility to rights and royalties. Throughout her tenure as chair of BISG’s Rights Committee, her leadership has repeatedly turned difficult, industry-wide rights problems into concrete infrastructure—standards, tools, resources, and programs designed to make rights work better for everyone.
“Kris has a remarkable ability to see where complexity and friction are holding the industry back and then bring people together to do something about it,” said Allison Belan, Executive Director of BISG. “Her vision for how rights can work better for everyone in the supply chain, and her dedication to bringing order and transparency to rights management, have had—and continue to have—an industry-wide impact. In the year the Translation Rights Royalty Statement Standard was published, we can think of no one better to recognize as our Industry Champion.”
Perhaps nowhere is that approach more evident than in the Translation Rights Royalty Statement Standard (TRRSS), the culmination of years of collaborative work to address a persistent challenge in international rights: the lack of consistency in how royalty information is reported and exchanged and the time lost managing the variations. Under Kliemann’s leadership, BISG’s Rights Committee worked with rights professionals and trading partners to develop a standard intended to reduce friction, improve communication, and make royalty reporting more efficient for publishers and their international partners.
Her leadership has extended well beyond the TRRSS. Kliemann and the Rights Committee have helped develop resources and educational programming aimed at making rights information more accessible across the industry. Among them is Find a Rightsholder, launched in 2025 as a free, searchable directory designed to help users locate rights and permissions contacts for more than 3,500 U.S. and U.K. publishing imprints, including inactive and defunct imprints that can otherwise be difficult to trace.
Kliemann has also been instrumental in building Doing Rights Right, BISG’s annual gathering for the rights and licensing community. The program brings together professionals from publishers, agencies, technology providers, and other organizations to tackle practical challenges and emerging opportunities across the rights ecosystem—from metadata, royalties, and licensing to artificial intelligence and new technologies.
“I’m incredibly honored to receive this award, and I insist on sharing it with the members of BISG’s Rights Committee,” said Kliemann. “The progress we’ve made is possible because people are willing to share their expertise, tackle complicated problems, and build solutions that make rights work better for everyone. I’m tremendously proud of what this committee has accomplished and even more excited about the work still ahead.”
“Rights are at the center of everything we do in publishing. They determine how intellectual property travels, how it reaches new audiences and markets, and how its value comes back to the people and organizations that created and invested in it. That’s why it matters that BISG has created a place where the industry can look closely at the challenges surrounding rights and bring people together to solve them. Stronger rights practices don’t just benefit rights professionals—they help create a stronger, more successful publishing ecosystem.”
Through Kliemann & Company, LLC, Kliemann advises global publishing companies on strategies for maximizing reach and revenue through rights, royalties, and new technologies. Previously, she served as Vice President, Director, Global Rights at Wiley, where she led an international team of sales, marketing, and operations professionals. Her publishing career has also included roles with Random House, Hyperion/Disney, and Farrar, Straus & Giroux, where she successfully negotiated and executed print and digital licensing agreements with companies around the world.
BISG introduced its Industry Champion Award in 2014. The award recognizes individuals whose leadership, service, and commitment to collaboration have made a significant contribution to BISG and the publishing industry. Past recipients have represented a wide range of roles and organizations across the book publishing ecosystem.
The award will be presented during the Book Publishing Next Forum, the afternoon program of BISG@50. The Forum will bring together leaders from publishing, manufacturing, distribution, retail, libraries, and technology for forward-looking conversations about the future of the book industry. The day will conclude with BISG’s 50th Anniversary Celebration, honoring the people, partnerships, and milestones that have shaped BISG and the publishing supply chain over the past five decades.
For more information about BISG@50 or to purchase tickets, visit bisg.org.