Born 1978, Adrienne Vaughan was the President of publishing house Bloomsbury USA.
Until her sudden death, she was known for her work on both the Harry Potter series and with Marvel Press at different points in her career.
Vaughan died in a boating incident in the Fiordo di Furore at the Amalfi Coast on August 4, 2023, while on vacation with her family.
According to Daily Mail, her children were uninjured, though her husband, Mike White, did sustain injuries from the incident.
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.
Adrienne Vaughan cause of death
Vaughan died in a boating accident at the Amalfi Coast on August 4, 2023 while on vacation with her family.
The pilot of their speedboat collided with a 45-meter vessel, the Tortuga; a wedding party including 85 American and German tourists was aboard the yacht.
In the collision, Vaughan was thrown from the smaller vessel into the water between the hulls of both ships and fatally struck by the Tortuga’s propellers.
Air ambulances arrived at the port at 7 PM local time to transfer Vaughan to a helicopter for transport to the hospital, but she had already died.
A witness to the collision, aboard the Tortuga, reported that the vessels had been sailing without incident when suddenly the smaller vessel turned 180 degrees and collided with the larger ship.
The pilot was transported to Ruggi d’Aragona in Salerno and an investigation into his possibly being incapacitated while piloting the vessel is underway.
The pilot did test positive for substance use, but details have yet to be released regarding whether he tested positive for alcohol, illicit substance or both.
Adrienne Vaughan husband
Vaughan was married to Mike White whom they shared two children together; a son and a daughter.
White was also involved in the boating accident that killed Vaughan, and although he survived, he suffered a dislocated shoulder and lacerations.
Adrienne Vaughan children
Vaughan was a mother before her death in August, 2023.
In the years of her marriages to her husband Mike White, they were parents to two adorable kids; a daughter and a son.
The couple’s children names are Leanna and Mason; their daughter is 14 years old while their son who is also the youngest child is 11 years old.
Aside from their names and ages, there are no further details about the kids including their educational background and hobbies.
Following the tragic boating accident the children were unharmed but they needed therapy for shock having witnessed the whole incident.