With over 20 years of diverse experience in the legal and information services sectors, Simone Hammer is an accomplished leader specializing in legal publishing, content management, outsourcing, and vendor relations. Throughout her career, Simone has built an impressive track record of delivering strategic solutions that drive growth and enhance operational efficiency.

Simone began her professional journey in law, qualifying as a lawyer in Germany before pivoting to an international career in legal publishing. This transition opened doors to a wide range of roles spanning editorial, team leadership, and supplier management across Europe, with key experiences in the Netherlands and the UK. Over the years, she has developed deep expertise in managing complex client portfolios, optimizing workflows, and leading high-performing teams.

Before joining Lumina Datamatics in 2024, Simone held key roles at Thomson Reuters, a global leader in information services for legal, tax, finance, and media professionals. There, she honed her skills in navigating the evolving landscape of legal publishing and content solutions.

As Director of Sales at Lumina Datamatics, Simone is responsible for overseeing and expanding the company’s portfolio of legal publishing clients, driving strategic partnerships, and delivering tailored solutions that meet the unique needs of the legal sector. Her combination of legal expertise, industry knowledge, and client-focused approach positions her as a trusted advisor in the legal publishing and content management domains.

Eric Garner is a publishing professional with 19 years of experience in academic publishing. As Director of Books Production at SAGE Publishing, he leads the U.S. Books Production department and oversees global teams responsible for delivering digital, online, custom, and print publications. In this role, he manages production strategy, budgeting, staffing, and quality control while leading innovation initiatives that improve publishing workflows and efficiencies.

Eric partners closely with editorial, technology, and product teams to streamline processes, enhance collaboration, and ensure high author satisfaction, while working with international teams in London and India to deliver global initiatives.

He holds an MBA in Strategic Leadership from Amberton University, an MS in Publishing from Pace University, and a BA in English from Morehouse College.

Shirly Griffith is Senior Director and Head of Jacaranda, a proudly Australian educational publishing brand and Wiley company. With many years of publishing experience, Shirly leads the Jacaranda business spanning sales, marketing, product management, customer success, and publishing with responsibility for driving growth, operational efficiency, and the strategic direction of a portfolio of digital and print resources used in more than 4,000 schools across Australia. A pivotal point of her leadership is content development, where she oversees quality improvement, multi-format publishing, and speed to market to ensure Jacaranda’s resources remain market leading.

Shirly has first-hand experience navigating the complexities of modern publishing workflows, from managing collaborative editing across distributed teams to meeting the demands of simultaneous multi-format production. Her focus on driving operational efficiencies and smarter content pipelines makes her a strong advocate for tools and processes that help publishers do more, faster, and without compromising quality.

Shirly is also a passionate advocate for the responsible integration of AI in publishing workflows, believing that when thoughtfully applied, AI can meaningfully accelerate content production, enhance quality, and unlock new possibilities for personalised, multi-format delivery.

In this panel, Shirly brings a practitioner’s perspective on the real-world challenges of modernising publishing workflows, sharing insights from Wiley’s experience with collaborative editing, multi-format production, and the role of emerging technologies in shaping the future of smarter, more efficient publishing.