Half Price Books
Kathy Doyle Thomas has a diverse work experience spanning several industries. Kathy has been with Half Price Books for over 29 years, starting as Chief Strategy Officer and currently serving as President since January 2022. Under their leadership, the company has become the largest family-owned bookstore chain in the country. Kathy oversees multiple departments, including marketing, risk and safety, legal, customer service, ecommerce, and HPB.
In addition to their role at Half Price Books, Kathy also runs Ready Ritas, a family margarita mix company, as the Chief Executive Officer. Kathy introduced traditional lime-flavored mixes in fun, theme-inspired colors in easy-to-pour plastic bags.
Kathy is actively involved in philanthropy and serves on the Board of Directors for Feed the Children. Kathy was also an Advisory Board Member for Literacy Instruction for Texas (LIFT) from 2014 to 2018.
Furthermore, Kathy has held leadership positions outside of their main roles. Kathy served as the Chairperson of the Board for NRF CMO council from 2010 to 2017. Prior to their tenure at Half Price Books, they worked as a Media Buyer and Magazine Editor at KERA from 1982 to 1989.
Kathy Doyle Thomas holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Marketing from Texas Christian University. Kathy also has a Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from the University of North Texas, with a focus on Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services.
Half Price Books
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“Be fair to customers and our employees, promote literacy, be kind to the environment and remain financially viable so we may continue.” — Our Mission Statement in the words of HPB Co-Founder Pat Anderson It was 1972. Corporate dropout Ken Gjemre and fellow bibliophile Pat Anderson opened a used-book shop in an old laundromat in Dallas, Texas. They ran ads in the local paper, declaring “We Buy Books,” and soon found themselves with a few thousand books and hordes of customers. “You could stir them with a stick,” Ken said. And now? With more than 120 stores across the country, plus a website with customers and sellers around the globe, we’ve become America’s largest family-owned retailer for new and used books. Our founders coined the phrase, “We buy and sell everything ever printed or recorded (except yesterday’s newspaper).” And if you’ve been to one of our stores, you know that’s true. Ken and Pat weren’t just talking about our enormous selection, but about our refusal to censor products. As Ken said, “We don’t let others, or ourselves, determine what our customers should read.” To this day, we’ll shelve and sell just about anything, from The Diary of Anne Frank to The History of Farting. We might chuckle at the titles, but we won’t censor them. Half Price Books is committed to the community. We've been supporting literacy and environmental groups for more than 40 years and will continue working together to carry on the mission and causes of our founders. Each day when we go to work, we hope to do two things: share our favorite things with our friends, and help make the world a little better. That includes recycling and donating more than a million of our overstock books each year to local nonprofits and organizations around the world. Learn more about how we give back. Our goal of helping to make the world a little better also touches each and every HPB employee. This employee-centric culture began at inception with the notion of sharing profits with the staff