Don Katz is the founder and longtime leader of Audible, the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling. Founded in 1995, Audible serves millions of listeners and offers 800,000 downloadable Audible Originals, audiobooks, and other programs. Katz was previously a journalist and author for 20 years, writing five books and serving as contributing editor at Rolling Stone, Outside, Esquire, and other publications. His longform journalism won an Overseas Press Club award and a National Magazine Award. Katz’s book Home Fires was nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award, and his bestseller The Big Store: Inside the Crisis and Revolution at Sears won the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize for Non-Fiction.
Audible, under Katz’s leadership over 28 years, commercialized the first portable digital audio player in 1997, four years before the introduction of the iPod. Audible was publicly traded on NASDAQ, until it was acquired by Amazon in 2008, becoming an independently operated subsidiary. Katz moved Audible’s global headquarters to downtown Newark, New Jersey, the largest city in the state, in 2007 without government incentives. Newark’s comeback and programmatic, scalable solutions that address urban inequities became a defining mission for Audible. Katz is the founder of Newark Venture Partners, a social impact early-stage investment fund that seeks to connect Newark to the early-stage technology start-up innovation economy. Recognized as one of America’s Top 25 Disruptive Leaders by Living Cities for his work on behalf of urban transformation, Katz was named New Jersey’s most influential tech leader by ROI-NJ in 2021. He was the recipient of a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award in 2013. For his leadership and founding vision for Audible, he was honored by both PEN America and Gotham Film & Media Institute in 2022.
Katz graduated from New York University, where he studied with novelist Ralph Ellison. He also holds an MSc Econ from the London School of Economics and Political Science.