Taunton Press Founder Passes Torch

After 25 years of guidance, innovation, and leadership, Paul Roman has handed the reigns of The Taunton Press over to John Lively. Mr Lively, the former editor-in-chief and managing director, will succeed Mr Roman as president and CEO. Mr Roman will continue as chairman of the privately held company.

In 1975 Mr Roman, a passionate amateur woodworker, decided to leave his executive position at General Electric and pursue a dream. Taking his experience as a former magazine editor, he and his wife Jan started Fine Woodworking from their Taunton Lake Road home. Mr Roman’s vision was simple: a magazine that not only informed, but also inspired its readers. The articles were to be written by experts in the field, craftsmen who understood their subjects better than anyone in the world. It would be a magazine by practitioners for practitioners.

From this simple platform Mr Roman built The Taunton Press, a company that now employs 300 people and publishes six magazine titles and some 40 books a year. Taunton Press is the third largest local taxpayer in Newtown.

In addition to Fine Woodworking, the company’s magazine titles include Fine Homebuilding, Fine Gardening, Kitchen Gardener, Fine Cooking, and Threads.

“Since the first issue of Fine Woodworking, Paul and Jan Roman established The Taunton Press’ core values of intellectual leadership and honesty, keeping the reader’s interest foremost for the past 25 years,” said Mr Lively. “These values are present on every page of Fine Woodworking, and in every one of our magazines and books.”

From the very beginning, Mr Roman insisted the reader should always come first. To this end he created an innovative and unique policy of accepting only advertising that relates directly to a magazine’s core subject. “Advertising should be a resource for the readers, not an interruption,” he said. That policy still stands today.

Mr Lively said the values that Paul and Jan Roman initiated will always be at the center of their business. “We will use our unique way of creating and delivering information to serve our existing markets more fully and discover new markets,” he said.

According to Mr Lively, special interest magazines and books will continue to be “the enduring aspect of our business, because print has a long and healthy future.” But The Taunton Press will also continue its expansion into Web-based services, video, and events that are tailored to the interests of readers.

Jan Roman will join her husband in semi-retirement by the end of the year by taking an expanded role on the company’s board as head of its finance committee. Together, with other board members, they will focus their efforts of the company’s long-term development.

Mrs Roman said that leaving the day-to-day leadership of the company will provide opportunities for others, including John Lively, to assume expanded roles. Two of the Romans’ five children and a son-in-law also work for the company: Sue, publisher of Fine Gardening and Kitchen Gardener; Sarah, circulation manager for all of the magazines, and Sarah’s husband, Tim Rahr, who joined the company’s business office this year.

Mr Lively, a native of Lookout Mountain, Tenn., is a graduate of Centre College of Kentucky and holds a master’s degree in English from the University of North Texas. He joined the editorial staff of Fine Woodworking in 1980. His past contributions to The Taunton Press’ success include his work as chief editor of Fine Homebuilding. In that position, he put the magazine on a course of editorial excellence, serving both the professional and consumer homebuilding marketplaces.

In 1988, he was named publisher of Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding magazines. In 1993 he became Taunton’s editor-in-chief, a post he still holds. Most recently, he acted as publisher for Fine Cooking and Threads magazines. Mr Lively is still an active woodworker, producing six to ten major pieces per year.

“It’s what I most look forward to on weekends,” he said.