IMPORTANT! Candidates must apply at the InterVarsity Press Career Center by cutting and pasting this link into a browser: https://intervarsity.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/InterVarsity_Press_Careers/details/President-Publisher-of-InterVarsity-Press_R0002006
To advance the purpose of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, the President/Publisher will serve as IVP's senior executive and a Vice President of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA, responsible for the full scope of its publishing program, financial performance, staff leadership, and strategic direction. The President/Publisher leads a talented leadership team and serves as IVP's primary spokesperson across the publishing industry, the church, and the broader evangelical world.
The Opportunity
IVP enters its next chapter from a position of genuine strength: a distinctive brand, deep author relationships, and a staff that is talented and committed. The incoming President/Publisher will build on that foundation with focused execution — developing existing talent, strengthening the publishing program, and driving the financial sustainability that funds IVP's mission for the next generation.
This season calls for an astute publishing executive who leads with strategic clarity and spiritual depth, someone who understands that in a ministry-aligned organization, the quality of relationships and the quality of results are not competing priorities but mutually reinforcing ones.
The Ideal Candidate
The President/Publisher IVP seeks is a proven publishing executive whose professional depth, spiritual formation, and leadership character are each distinctly present and mutually reinforcing.
Professionally, this person brings a track record of financial leadership and publishing judgment, understanding the acquisition cycle, the author relationship, the commercial and mission dynamics that shape a publishing program, and the marketplace shifts defining the next decade. They are financially astute, fluent in board-level conversations about performance and strategy, and skilled at building and leading high-performing teams.
As a leader, they have the demonstrated instinct and discipline to move real authority — decisions, budgets, editorial judgment, ownership of outcomes — away from the top role and toward the leaders closest to the work, and to hold it there even under pressure. They build frameworks and decision rights that allow the organization to function well without centralizing authority in the corner office. They lead with directness and care, making difficult decisions with discernment and holding people to high standards with genuine compassion.
They invest personally in the development of individuals around them — mentoring deliberately, building bench depth at every level, and creating conditions where talented people bring their best work. In a ministry-aligned organization, the quality of how people are led is not separate from the organization's values but an expression of them.
Spiritually, they are a pastorally grounded executive who understands that in this organization, spiritual depth and executive effectiveness are not separate concerns. The next IVP president will be theologically orthodox with a broadly evangelical posture — rooted in the historic creedal core while operating with genuine breadth across the evangelical landscape. Beyond personally embodying this posture, the president must be able to lead IVP and its community toward it: articulating a compelling theological vision that orients staff and authors, exercising discernment in navigating contested theological questions, and guiding the organization through doctrinal tension without either retreating to the edges or losing its center. They are genuinely at ease in conversation with authors, academics, and ministry leaders across the Christian tradition. They share IVP's long-standing commitment to publishing diverse voices, including women, people of color, and underrepresented communities, as a genuine publishing conviction, not merely an organizational program.
Major Responsibilities
Personal:
- Be a maturing disciple of Jesus Christ: growing in love for God, God's Word, God's people of every ethnicity and culture, and God's purposes in the world
- Be a lifelong learner who prizes the discipleship of the mind, particularly staying current on issues of business practices within ministry, human resources, and talent management
Position Responsibilities:
- Provide integrated strategic and operational leadership across IVP's editorial, sales and marketing, finance, and fulfillment functions
- Cultivate and steward IVP's author relationships as a strategic organizational asset, ensuring a robust pipeline of prospective authors across IVP's publishing program, actively developing emerging voices alongside established ones on multi-title arcs, and maintaining the trust and loyalty of authors whose work defines IVP's catalog and reputation
- Drive financial performance with a clear focus on profitability and the sustainable margins that fund long-term publishing investment and mission
- Assess and strengthen IVP's revenue architecture by developing institutional and channel partnerships — including seminaries, Christian colleges, campus ministries, and bulk-purchase networks — that reduce dependence on retail sales velocity and build more durable, relationship-based revenue streams
- Move real authority toward the leaders closest to the work — building decision-rights frameworks, distributing meaningful accountability, and holding that structure even under pressure — so that the organization's capacity is not dependent on any single person
- Invest personally in the development of IVP staff at every level: mentoring deliberately, building bench depth, and creating the conditions where talented people do their best work and grow into greater responsibility
- Represent IVP as its primary voice in the publishing industry, the church, academia, and international evangelical relationships
- Build and deepen the strategic relationship between IVP and IVCF, developing InterVarsity's alumni, staff, and campus network as both a ministry channel and a high-affinity market
- Continue developing joint programming with IVCF Field staff that activates the campus and alumni network as an operational distribution channel — creating co-investment models around author visits, campus events, and curriculum adoption that serve both organizations' missions simultaneously
- Partner with IVCF leadership and the board to communicate IVP's publishing direction and missional contribution with clarity and conviction
- Strengthen IVP's publishing program with both editorial credibility and commercial discipline, holding creative excellence and financial performance together
Qualifications
- Annual affirmation of InterVarsity's Statement of Faith
- Thorough knowledge of, or demonstrated ability to learn, the purpose, vision, ministries, and policies of InterVarsity
- Minimum 10 years of senior publishing experience with demonstrated strength across editorial, commercial, and/or operational dimensions; previous experience in Christian publishing strongly desired
- Embrace of IVP's editorial philosophy and ethos for both academic and general interest books
- Theological grounding consonant with IVCF's Doctrinal Basis; theologically orthodox with a broadly evangelical posture
- Fluency in publishing production, distribution, and supply chain management
- Proven P&L responsibility within a media or publishing industry context
- Deep familiarity with the Christian publishing market and the broader evangelical landscape
- Working knowledge of International Rights and Permissions, including IP licensing for both ministry and revenue purposes
- Proven experience engaging key stakeholders including boards of directors, industry associations, churches, and ministries
- Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree preferred
- Position based on-site at IVP's office in Lisle, Illinois
Equal Employment Opportunity:
InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA is both an equal opportunity employer and a faith-based religious organization. We conduct hiring without regard to race, color, ancestry, national origin, citizenship, age, sex, marital status, parental status, membership in any labor organization, political ideology, or disability of an otherwise qualified individual. The status of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA as an equal opportunity employer does not prevent the organization from hiring staff based on their religious beliefs so that all staff share the same religious commitment. Pursuant to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 702 (42 U.S.C. 2000e 1(a)) InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA has the right to, and does, hire only candidates who agree with InterVarsity’s Statement of Agreement: Purpose and Doctrinal Basis because InterVarsity believes that each and every staff plays a vital role in advancing InterVarsity’s mission and purposes.
Pay: $157,872.00 - $210,492.00 per year
Benefits:
- Dental insurance
- Employee assistance program
- Employee discount
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Parental leave
- Professional development assistance
- Relocation assistance
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Work Location: In person
