David Wan, who has been president of the Penguin Group since January 2000, is resigning that post to become president and CEO of Harvard Business School Publishing Corp., effective July 1.
Wan said the combination of HBSP's mission and his own background in educational publishing (as well as being a Harvard Business School grad) made it easy for him to accept the post to run a much smaller operation than Penguin. Wan had been president of the Simon & Schuster k—12 educational publishing group and moved to Pearson following its acquisition of the S&S educational and professional groups. He maintained that the appointment of John Makinson, director of finance for Pearson, to chairman of Penguin last May played no role in his decision to leave. "John and I got along splendidly."
A Penguin spokesperson said no one will be named to replace Wan. Makinson will assume some of his day-to-day functions, and the CEOs of the various Penguin subsidiaries will also take on more responsibility. All CEOs, including Penguin Putnam's David Shanks, will report to Makinson.
Wan said his early objectives at HBSP will be to expand the content developed by the company beyond its current sources and to broaden its international distribution. He also believes HBSP's content lends itself very well to digital publishing, citing such product possibilities as customized case studies and textbooks.
HBSP houses the Harvard Business Review plus HBS Press; publishes newsletters and case studies; and conducts conferences and e-learning programs. Revenues for the year ending June 30, 2002, are projected to be close to $100 million. Carol Franco will continue to head HBS Press as v-p and director. The press plans to release 44 titles this year, up from 33 in 2001.
