Alec Harris is President of GIA Publications, Inc., a leading publisher of liturgical music, hymnals, recordings, and music education resources with more than 10,000 titles in print and a full-time staff of 70 employees. Alec joined GIA in 1987 after receiving a BA with honors in Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and working for two years as a newspaper reporter and editor in the Washington, DC area.
Alec is the fourth generation in his family in the music business. His great-grandfather opened and managed the Carl Fischer retail music store in downtown Chicago in the 1890s. His father, Ed (now retired) acquired GIA in 1966. Since joining GIA, Alec has devoted his attention to bringing technological innovation to music publishing, establishing the OneLicense.net subsidiary, and building a visionary editorial team.
He serves on the national board of the Church Music Publisher’s Association Action Fund and completed a four-year term on the national board of the American Choral Directors Association. He also co-chairs the Gun Violence Study Group as part of United Power for Action and Justice, working to find creative solutions to the scourge of gun violence in Chicago and the U.S. Alec lives in Oak Park, Illinois, with his wife and two children.