Christine Hogrebe, The Jane Rotrosen Agency

A native of Northeastern Pennsylvania, agent Christina Hogrebe grew up on a steady diet of Anne of Green Gables and Sweet Valley Twins books, for which she was nearly laughed out of the English department at Franklin & Marshall College and the University of Denver Publishing Institute, who graduated her anyway. Inspired by bold chick lit heroines, she left the wilds of PA in search of dirty martinis and adventure, landing on the doorstep of Jane Rotrosen Agency, who, sensing a kindred spirit, hired her as one of publishing’s many over-eager assistants in 2003. Christina annoyed mentor Meg Ruley with reader’s reports until they promoted her to agent soon thereafter.  In the transformation from assistant to reader to agent, Hogrebe’s literary menu expanded as well and – chick lit aside - mystery/thiller writers now make up more than a third of her client list.

Jerry Gross

Jerry Gross has been critiquing and line editing fiction and nonfiction for more than 40 years. His career in publishing includes serving as VP and editorial director of Paperback Library; VP and editorial director of Warner Books, VP and associate editor in chief of New American Library, editor in chief of Everest Books, and senior editor of Dodd, Mead & Company.

In 1996, Gross co-founded The Independent Editors Group, the premier professional affiliation of New York City-based, freelance editors/book doctors/ghostwriters who work with writers, editors, publishers and agents in trade book publishing.  TIEG provides manuscript evaluations, developmental and line-editing, consultation on book proposals and conceptual development, and ghostwriting services.

As president of Gerald Gross Associates, he has been a freelance editor and book doctor working with agented and unagented authors, as well as editors, agents, and publishing executives. He is the author of Editors on Editing: What Writers Need to Know About What Editors Do, considered the seminal work on trade book editing.

Marty Conroy

Marty Conroy has worked for thirty years as a publishers sale representative for the Southern region, supporting works by authors under the Dell, Simon & Schuster and Warner Books banners before joining Hachette Book Group.  When he's not on the road platforming new and established authors, Conroy resides in Orange Park, Florida (Jacksonville) where he indulges his twin passions of literature and music.

David Hale Smith

Prior to joining InkWell Management in 2011, David Hale Smith operated his eponymous literary agency in Texas. Smith’s current fiction list includes LA Times Book Prize-winner Michael Koryta; Edgar-winners Theresa Schwegel and Stefanie Pintoff; Bram Stoker Award and ITW Thriller Award winner, Tom Piccirilli, and the New York Times-bestselling, Eisner-Award-winning comics creator, screenwriter and novelist Greg Rucka. He negotiated the film adaptation of Rucka’s graphic novel, Whiteout, with Warner Bros for a commercially-successful release in 2008 with stars Kate Beckinsale, Tom Skerritt, and Gabriel Macht.

In just the past year, Smith has sold film adaptation rights for Inkwell Management authors to Graham King, Paramount Pictures, Universal and several independent studios. Most recently, Smith concluded the film deal for Michael Koryta’s Cypress House, with blockbuster film director Chris Columbus and his production company, 1492 Pictures. He also serves on the board of directors of arts and education-focused nonprofits Educational First Steps and The Dallas International Film Festival. Along with discovering new writers, he is on a never-ending quest to find the world's great BBQ joints and taco stands.

David Forrer

David Forrer began his career in publishing in 1997 after receiving a Masters in Creative Writing (fiction) from Boston University. He has been an agent with InkWell Management since it was created in 2004. Forrer’s areas of interest and representation range from literary, commercial, historical and crime fiction to suspense/thriller, humorous non-fiction and popular history.

Josie Friedman

Freedman, an attorney, joined The Gersh Agency and in 2001 moved to the Los Angeles office of International Creative Management, where she negotiated film and television deals based on books, life rights, articles and short stories.  In 2010, Freedman was promoted to co-chair ICM's 's books-to-film department.  Authors whose works she represents for film adaptation include Carl Hiaasen and Randy Wayne White.