Henry Hirschberg, a 27-year veteran with Prentice Hall/Simon &Schuster and, since its recent purchase by Pearson, president of the Pearson Education higher education group, has resigned. Pearson moved quickly to replace Hirschberg, naming Will Ethridge to the position. Ethridge, who joined Prentice Hall in 1988, had been president of Pearson's science, math and technical publishing division. A spokesperson said Pearson was "pleased to have someone with Ethridge's pedigree to take over [Hirschberg's] role."
In a brief statement he circulated within the company, Hirschberg said that after "a lot of soul searching" he had decided it was time for him to seek "new challenges and opportunities." Pearson Education CEO Peter Jovanovich paid tribute to Hirschberg's "significant record of achievement" in the company, which enjoyed a strong performance in the past year. Executives who reported to Hirschberg under the newly announced restructuring at Pearson Education (News, Dec. 7, 1998) will now report to Ethridge.
In addition to overseeing Prentice Hall, Addison Wesley Longman and Allyn &Bacon, Ethridge will be responsible for several Macmillan imprints, including Macmillan Computer Publishing where Doug Bennett was recently named president.
In a second appointment, Donald Fowley has been named publisher of the Macmillan Professional Publishing group, which is made up of Adobe Press, New Riders, Cisco Press and the Macmillan Technical Publishing imprints. The group will be part of the Pearson Professional Technical Reference (PTR) group within Pearson Education higher education. Fowley will report to Mark Dalton, president of Pearson PTR.
