President
Fred N. Grayson has been in the publishing business since 1967, where he began as Marketing Director of Cambridge Book Company, publishers of High School and Adult Education Test Preparation books, Texts and Review Books. He formed his own publishing company, Park Lane Press, in 1970. After selling the company to Simon & Schuster in the mid-70s, Mr. Grayson became Editor-in-Chief of its Reference and Educational Division (later known as the Monarch Press Division).
After leaving Simon & Schuster in 1976, Mr. Grayson formed Trafalgar House Publishing, Inc., which later became known as American BookWorks Corporation, co-publishing Test Preparation and Adult Education books, Reference books, and General Interest books. Working with hundreds of authors throughout the years, he has developed books in conjunction with dozens of large and small publishing companies, including Peterson’s, Arco Publishing, Wiley Publishing and Cliff’s Notes, Prentice Hall, HarperCollins, McGraw-Hill, Bantam Books, Kaplan, Facts On File, and others.
In 1997, Mr. Grayson co-founded and developed petswelcome.com, an on-line travel service for people who travel with their pets. Petswelcome.com has become the largest pet-travel website on the Internet with more than one million visitors a year, featuring more than 25,000+ pet-friendly venues, including lodgings, pet-sitters, boarding kennels, emergency veterinarians, etc. In 2001, a book, “The Portable Petswelcome.com” (created by Mr. Grayson and his partner) based on the website and published by Howell Book House (a division of John Wiley), won the annual award for the year’s best reference book, by the Dog Writers Association of America.
In 2004, Webster House Publishing LLC was born, as a response to the “No Child Left Behind” law. The initial publishing program began with a series for high school students in Connecticut, and then began adding other states, such Pennsylvania and Arizona. In addition, they have added a number of reference books, as they continue to expand
Mr. Grayson has a B.A. degree in English Literature from Alfred University, NY, and an M.S. degree in Psychological Counseling from C.W. Post (Brooklyn, NY). He served in the U.S. Air Force and retired as a 1st Lieutenant. He has also authored numerous books, primarily in the areas of test preparation and reference.
Vice President
Valerie Levy Grayson, Esq. began her publishing career in 1978, as a reporter and then Managing Editor of The Phoenix Newspaper, in Brooklyn, NY. In 1979 she joined the Monarch Press division of Simon & Schuster, and soon after became Editor in Chief. At Simon & Schuster, she oversaw all editorial and production operations of that division, including development and negotiation of all book contracts. In 1984 she became Executive VP and Associate Publisher of Nautilus Communications, Inc, a New York based publishing company that published both general interest titles as well as city-wide yellow page directories.
She briefly left the publishing business in 1989 to attend Pace Law School, where she received her J.D. in 1991 (graduating cum laude, was a Ranking Scholar, and Dean’s List student). During that period, she also served as the research assistant to the former Chief Judge of the State of New York, Lawrence H. Cooke, and worked part-time as a law clerk in the legal department of Simon & Schuster.
Since 1991, she has served as Vice President of American BookWorks Corporation as well as Webster House Publishing LLC, developing and overseeing educational and general-interest publishing projects, and serves as General Counsel.
Ms. Grayson holds a B.A. degree from SUNY at Stony Brook in Hispanic Languages and Literature, as well as a J.D. from Pace University School of Law (admitted to both the New York State Bar, Appellate Division, and Connecticut State Bar), is listed in Who’s Who in America (since 1984), and has authored two books. She serves on two non-profit boards as Vice President of Philanthropy of the National Charity League (Nutmeg Chapter) and Chairperson of Telecommunications for the Friends of the Ridgefield Library.
