When Macmillan Publishers announced the creation of a Chief Technology Officer role earlier this year, it signalled something more than an organisational restructure. For a major trade publisher to establish a C-suite technology position for the first time in its history is an acknowledgement that the strategic challenges posed by artificial intelligence, digital distribution, and platform dependency can no longer be managed at the operational level alone. The appointment of Darryll Colthrust to fill that role — and his decision to keynote the AI@Media international conference on March 24, before he has even formally started — underscores the urgency with which the industry is approaching these questions.

Colthrust brings an unusual profile to the role. He is co-founder and co-CEO of Chaptr, a technology innovation company backed by Holtzbrinck (Macmillan's parent company) that has developed three products familiar to the publishing industry: Reedy, a reading experience platform; Essence, a content intelligence tool; and Amplify, an audience development product. Founded in 2022, Chaptr has positioned itself at the intersection of publishing and technology, giving Colthrust direct experience of the operational and strategic challenges that publishers face in adapting their workflows and business models to a rapidly changing digital environment.

At AI@Media — a half-day conference hosted by Publishing Perspectives and Digital Publishing Report on March 24 — Colthrust will discuss how his two decades of technology experience can benefit not only Macmillan but the broader industry. The conference programme reflects the full range of practical AI applications now under active development in publishing: AI-driven audiobook production, metadata intelligence and direct-to-consumer discovery, and a roundtable on women in AI and publishing.

Colthrust's own framing of his new role is notably author-centric: "I'm excited to lead Macmillan's efforts in using the power of technology and innovation to support our authors, deepen our connection with readers, and shape the future of publishing in ways that amplify human creativity." That language — amplifying human creativity rather than replacing it — is a deliberate positioning choice, and one that will be tested as Macmillan navigates decisions about AI-assisted editing, metadata generation, and content licensing.

The appointment is part of a broader pattern of major publishers investing in dedicated technology leadership. Simon & Schuster recently appointed former Amazon executive Greg Greeley as CEO, PRH has established a Global Technology Organization, and Springer Nature has embedded AI tools across its editorial and production workflows. The question is no longer whether publishers need technology leadership at the executive level, but what that leadership should prioritise: efficiency gains, new revenue streams, author protection, or some combination of all three.

**Editorial commentary:** The creation of a CTO role at Macmillan is a structural acknowledgement of what the industry has known for several years: that publishing's most consequential decisions are increasingly technical ones. Pricing algorithms, metadata architecture, AI licensing frameworks, and platform relationships all require executive-level technical judgment, not just operational IT management. Colthrust's background at Chaptr gives him credibility as a practitioner rather than a theorist, and his Holtzbrinck connections mean he arrives with an unusually clear view of the parent company's strategic priorities. The more interesting question is whether a single CTO, however capable, can meaningfully influence the pace and direction of AI adoption across a publishing house of Macmillan's scale and complexity. The role will be defined less by its title than by its authority — specifically, whether Colthrust has the mandate to make decisions that may be commercially uncomfortable in the short term but strategically necessary in the long run.