President & Publisher
Thomas Payton is a founding principal of Hill Street Press with experience on both the publishing and retail sides of the industry. He is responsible for oversight of the day-to-day operation of the company including all financial management, production, marketing, publicity, sales, and subsidiary rights activities. In addition, Payton acquires books for publication by the company and develops new projects in partnerships with animation, children's and other media enterprises.
Payton has extensive relationships with newspaper, magazine, and Internet editors nationally and overseas, as well as with television and radio producers. He has made arrangements for thousands of author appearances at bookstores as well as at book festivals, historical societies, museums, and other venues. Payton has negotiated numerous agreements for paperback reprint, film/television, foreign language, serial, electronic book, and book club subsidiary rights. He has served on numerous industry boards.
Previously, Payton has held senior management positions with the University of Georgia Press, the Architectural Book Center, and Oxford Bookstores in Atlanta.
Payton is a native of Atlanta, Georgia, and a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology. He lives in Athens, Georgia, has two sons, and in his time away from the company he reads a lot (favorites are pop culture/history, biographies, architectural/urban history, and some fiction), volunteers extensively in the community, plays softball and tennis, and enjoys camping and hiking.