Publishing 101:  Pre-Conference Track

Kent Wilson
Executive Publisher
NavPress

Kent was born and raised in Denver, Colorado on a "family farm" next door to his grandparents, an uncle and an aunt and seven cousins. He attributes the strong Christian faith of his parents for being instrumental in his personal faith in Jesus Christ as an eight-year-old.

After graduating from the local high school Kent attended Stanford University where he received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering Design and a B.A. in Psychology. In his last year of college Kent married Deborah. They returned to Colorado where he worked as Product Design Engineer for a consumer electronics company.

While working as an engineer, Kent began pursuing a lifelong dream to study for the ministry by attending Denver Seminary part-time. He later switched to full-time studies, graduating from Denver Seminary with a Master of Divinity in Biblical Studies. The first of three children was born while attending seminary.

After graduation Kent accepted the position of Associate Pastor at Littleton Bible Chapel in the Denver area, the church which his family helped start and had attended since his childhood. Kent served as pastor for seven years.

In 1987 Kent accepted a position with NavPress, the publishing arm of The Navigators, as Circulation Director for Discipleship Journal, the only magazine NavPress published at that time. Several years later Kent was recognized as Associate Publisher over the magazine group. Three additional magazines were added in the next few years, Current Thoughts & Trends, Clarity and Pray!. DJ and Pray! continue in publication and are recognized regularly by the magazine industry for editorial and graphic excellence. In 1996 Kent was asked to take the position of Executive Publisher over all of NavPress which he holds to this day. As Publisher he oversees the overall operation of all three divisions; NavPress books (which publishes around 70 new books each year), The Message Bible division, and the periodicals division.

Kent also serves as Director of the not-for-profit Wilson Foundation started by his grandfather. The Foundation provides grants for the development of Christian literature for third-world Christians. He is also a member of the Board of the Colorado Rockies Bible Camp and Conference as well as three other nonprofit organization boards. Kent has been married to Debbie for over 30 years and has three children, Eric, Abby and Katy and four grandchildren. While overseeing NavPress, Kent is also a PhD candidate studying at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland in the area of stewardship as a leadership model in nonprofit organizations. He currently lives in Monument, Colorado.