We suspect that when our readers think of the people behind AFP, they think of our authors, reviewers, editors, and editorial staff—the people responsible for putting the words on the page. But how many of you have thought of the people responsible for the pages themselves—the people on the publishing side of AFP? This month, we celebrate the many years of service of our outgoing publisher, Joetta K. Melton, and welcome our new publisher, Stephanie Hanaway.

After 20 years of leadership at AAFP, Joetta has stepped down as publisher to spend more time, among other things, reading books rather than publishing them. Joetta started with the Academy in 1986 as manager of AFP's marketing department. Three years later she was promoted to assistant director of the publications division, and in 1998 became the director of the publications division and publisher of AFP. As if AFP weren't a big enough publication to oversee, Joetta first worked with her predecessor, Clayton Raker Hasser, to launch Family Practice Management and later presided over the launch of the Annals of Family Medicine, both well known to family physicians nationwide.

Joetta and Clayton were responsible for dramatically boosting the circulation of AFP and increasing its frequency from monthly to twice monthly. Increased advertising sales and revenues followed suit, providing the capital to invest in enhancing AFP's editorial staff and adding to the Academy's bottom line. Joetta's leadership extends beyond the Academy to top tier organizations in the health care publishing industry, such as the Association of Medical Publications for which she served as president in 2001, the Healthcare Marketing Communications Council, and the Coalition for Healthcare Communications.

When not busy handling the myriad behind-the-scenes details of publishing three medical journals, Joetta enjoys training, breeding, and judging national champion show dogs. She's also a voracious reader and book-club member. If you ever want to know what's good to read, she can recommend at least a dozen titles she has read recently. We're glad that during her “retirement” she may occasionally find time to consult on publishing projects. AFP and the Academy are much better for having had Joetta's skillful and masterly touch. We will miss her and wish her all the best.

Introducing the New AFP Publisher

Taking over as publisher, Stephanie Hanaway comes to us from a long and successful career in the publishing and media industry. For more than 20 years at Primedia Business (now called Prism Business Media) she served in a variety of capacities, including magazine publisher, director of trade show operations, division marketing director, and vice president. More recently, she served as director of event media sales for Ascend Media. She also has owned her own marketing services firm and is the immediate past president of the Business Marketing Association of Kansas City. Her strong background in publishing, marketing, live events, and Web site development equips her to take up where Joetta left off in building the strength of AFP as a journal and a resource for family physicians across the country.