The Booksellers Association of the UK & Ireland has today announced the appointment of former BA President Nic Bottomley as Executive Chair of the BA Group, following the retirement of Tim Godfray late last year. 

Bottomley took up the role of Executive Chair following the end of his term as BA President in March 2020, and will be focusing on internal governance and group strategy, and sitting on the BA Group, BA Divisional, Books Tokens and the Batch boards.

Elected as BA President in April 2018, Bottomley is also the co-founder of Mr B’s Emporium of Reading Delights, an independent bookshop in Bath.

Nic Bottomley added: “I am thrilled to be able to continue my connection with the BA Group with this new role. Through my time sitting on BA Council and then serving as BA Vice-President and President, I have learned what an incredible organisation the BA really is and how much it is valued by its broad membership. Each of its three divisions - the Booksellers Association, Batch and National Book Tokens - all serve and support the organisation’s bookselling members in many different ways. I’m looking forward to working across the various Boards to further refine and develop the group’s strategy, development and governance”

Meryl Halls, Managing Director of the BA said of the appointment: “Nic Bottomley was a fantastic BA President, and has played an integral role in a number of key initiatives that we have launched during his tenure. Nic has shown stalwart support for the BA and is passionate about the importance of bookshops. We are excited to welcome him as Executive Chair, never more so than at this uniquely challenging time for bookselling, where Nic has already proven himself an insightful colleague and an inspiring leader.”

Bottomley will work alongside the BA Group senior management team, including BA Managing Director Meryl Halls, Batch Managing Director Fraser Tanner, National Book Tokens Managing Director Alex de Berry, Finance Director Tom Catton as well as with the wider BA, Book Tokens and Batch teams.