MICHAEL S. HYATT

Michael Hyatt is the CEO of Thomas Nelson, the largest Christian publishing company in the world and the seventh largest trade book publishing company in the U.S. The company is privately held.

Hyatt began his publishing career at Word Publishing while a student at Baylor University. He worked at Word for six years. In addition to serving as Vice President of Marketing at Thomas Nelson in the mid-80s, Hyatt started his own publishing company, Wolgemuth & Hyatt, with partner Robert Wolgemuth in 1986. Word acquired Wolgemuth & Hyatt in 1992.

A successful literary agent from 1992 until early 1998, Hyatt has written four books, one of which landed on the New York Times bestseller list where it stayed for seven months.

Hyatt joined Thomas Nelson for a second time in 1998. Since that time he has worked in a variety of roles in both divisional and corporate management. He was promoted to President in February 2004 and CEO in August 2005. He also serves as Chairman of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).

Hyatt has been married to his wife, Gail, for thirty years. They have five daughters, two son-in-laws, and four grand children and live outside of Nashville, Tennessee.

In Mike’s free time, he enjoys writing, running, golfing, fishing and photography.  He is a member of St. Ignatius Orthodox Church in Franklin, Tennessee, where he has served as a deacon for over 20 years.