Our Team

Perry Pidgeon Hooks, President & Co-founder

Perry Pidgeon Hooks has had a love affair with books that started with trips to the public library in Memphis, TN where she grew up.  Perry’s love of reading (just about anything), combined with an immense respect for the talents and efforts of writers keeps her engaged in the book business.

From the University of Virginia, her post college journey led her to England, New York City and then home to the Deep South. Wherever she lived, Perry fostered her love of reading by joining and starting book clubs and attending book events.

For over 14 years, Perry has worked with independent book stores including Davis-Kidd in Nashville, TN and at Politics and Prose in Washington D.C. – in marketing or as an independent contractor – promoting authors by bringing them to the stores as well as to non-traditional book venues. She remains partial to the independent book stores - working with Politics & Prose when producing events for clients in the metro DC area, and more recently with Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA for our clients in the Boston area.

Perry’s various detours through financial services marketing, advertising and trade association work have all helped her hone her skills in designing programs and author series that fit the needs of her clients.

Loretta Yenson, Co-founder & Chief Financial Officer

Books opened many doors for Loretta Yenson, who grew up in Johannesburg, South Africa.  Her parents, both of Chinese descent, recognized that the best opportunities for their children were through education.  They encouraged reading, mostly British authors, and jumped at the opportunity to send their children to college in the United States.

Loretta completed high school in Montreal, Canada.  As an undergraduate at Wellesley College, she majored in political science and pursued her interests as a summer intern in Washington D.C. closely following the thaw of U.S.-Soviet relations.  She continued her studies earning a Master’s degree at Columbia University’s School of International Affairs.  

Her work experience followed a different path, having worked in banking for almost 20 years in New York and Boston, and in the not-for-profit world (education and health care).  She resigned as Vice President, Private Banking at Chevy Chase Bank in Bethesda Maryland in 2007 to join Perry Hooks in this new venture. Among her various endeavors, Loretta has developed programs for new board members, including speaker and author series that met the needs of the board, the organization and the donors.  

Loretta has been married for 28 years to a real estate investment manager and they have a teenage daughter. 

Robin Dvorak, Chief Marketing Officer

Robin is a seasoned strategic marketing executive with over 18 years of global marketing experience in Fortune 500 organizations as well as small, private companies across the technology and finance industries. She is the founder of Blue Egg Marketing. 

Prior to founding Blue Egg, Robin led marketing for the the Updata brand: Updata Advisors, a leading investment banking firm serving the information technology industry; and Updata Partners, a growth-stage venture capital firm investing in software and software-enabled services companies.  Earlier, she managed marketing and business development programs for a number of innovative technology companies including American Power Conversion, Citadon (now, CT Space), eGO Vehicles and Linguateq (acquired by Sonus Networks). 

Robin began her career with a decade of experience in AT&T's Caribbean & Latin America regional organization. She earned an M.B.A. from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.

Susan Thomas, Operations Manager

A native of the Greater Washington area, Susan has worked in the financial services industry for 17 years. Her passion for numbers and business operations led her to study for and receive an MBA, and helped her move from the position of financial analyst to vp of commercial lending operations. Reading has also been an integral part of her career and personal life — another passion that merged with her career when she joined Hooks Book Events in 2007.

Susan Fallon,  Account Manager

Susan is originally from the Boston area.  Her diverse professional experience – from nursing, counseling, sailing, to professional chef – has equipped her with all the skills and tools to ensure that our author/book events run smoothly.  Susan manages on-site  client events, and also most of the offsite book sales that Hooks Book Events does.  In addition to working with HBE, Susan has her own catering company, Blue Ocean Kitchen (www.blueoceankitchen.com) , teaches cooking classes to underprivileged children, is involved in many local charities in the Washington DC area, and  also works for Politics & Prose Bookstore.

Louise Klee, Executive Assistant

Louise grew up in Baltimore, Md., just a few yards away from the Roland Park branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, whose shelves of books she read voraciously and indiscriminately over the years. She moved to the Washington area after college and worked for McGraw-Hill for 14 years, 10 of them as an Associate Editor in the Information Services division, then left McGraw-Hill to work as a freelance editor and writer while raising her three children. Louise joined Hooks Book Events in early 2012. She and her husband have lived in Takoma Park, Md., for 28 years.