Adrienne Vaughan was a prominent figure in the publishing industry, known for her work on both the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series.
She was the President of Bloomsbury USA, a publishing house that has released many popular books, including the Harry Potter series.
Vaughan was also an author herself, having written several novels, including three award-winning standalone novels in The Heartfelt Series.
On August 3, 2023, Vaughan died in a boating accident off the Amalfi Coast of Italy.
She fell into the water when a rented speedboat she was on with her husband hit a rock and capsized.
Vaughan was 45 years old at the time of her death.
Adrienne Vaughan husband
Vaughan was married to Mike White; they got married in 2008.
According to The Distin, the couple have two children together, Leanna and Mason.
White was with Adrienne Vaughan on a family vacation on the Amalfi coast when the tragic speedboat accident occurred.
The father of two survived the accident but dislocated his shoulder and cut his arm. He also fell into the water.
Their two children were reported to be unharmed.
Adrienne Vaughan career
Vaughan graduated from the College of William and Mary with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration in 2000.
Immediately after, she went to work for Scholastic as an operations analyst in August 2001, a position she held until August 2002.
Come 2002, Vaughan took on the role of global supply planner, switching positions again in February 2004 to become a manager of planning and analysis.
She worked in that position throughout her time at NYU to obtain her MBA, leaving Scholastic in April 2007.
Vaughan graduated NYU’s Stern School of Business with an MBA in 2007 and went to work for Disney as a senior finance manager.
She then became a director of finance at Disney in February 2008 and remained there until February 2013.
After leaving Disney, Vaughan worked as the Vice President of finance and operations at Little Pim, a startup publisher of electronic learning resources, from April 2013 through May 2014.
She then went to work at Oxford University Press in May 2014 as the director of finance where she remained until June 2015.
Vaughan then returned to Disney in June 2015 as the deputy director of Publishing for Disney Book Group.
She left Disney once more in October 2018 to be an independent consultant, a position she held until she signed on with Trustbridge Partners as senior VP in September 2019.
Vaughan joined Bloomsbury USA in September 2020 as the Chief Operations Officer and Executive Director.
She became President of Bloomsbury USA in September 2021, after having taken responsibility for Bloomsbury’s publishing operation in February 2021.
Vaughan had assumed the duties of Publishing Director for the company after the departure of Cindy Loh in February 2021.
Before taking over as president, Bloomsbury reported an increase of 14% in revenue during Vaughan’s tenure as COO.
She also sat on the board of the Association of American Publishers, of which she was a founding member.