Leila W. Salisbury has been the director of the University Press of Mississippi (UPM) since 2008. Prior to her appointment, she was marketing director at the University Press of Kentucky, where she worked for fourteen years. At UPM, she is responsible for the overall direction and management of a $2.7 million scholarly publishing operation. She oversees the Press’s budget and allocation of resources, shapes the Press’s editorial direction, shepherds fundraising for the Press’s $2.7 million endowment and for special projects, and currently spearheads the Press’s digital technology initiatives. She also acquires the regional and film and popular culture studies lists and serves as primary liaison between the Press and UPM’s eight state consortium campuses. Active in the Association of American University Presses, she has served on its program committee, library relations committee, professional development committee, and a 75th anniversary task force. She also writes a regular column for the library publicationAgainst the Grain. She received a B.A. with Honors in English (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) from Davidson College and an M.A. in English from the University of Kentucky.