Issue 9 2019

CEO MONTHLY / ISSUE 9 2019 31 , Pearson Adds Two New Executives to Accelerate Digital Transformation Pearson announces the addition of a Chief Product Officer and Chief Technology Officer, Product Platforms Pearson, the world’s learning company, today announced a pair of key appointments to accelerate its digital-first and platform strategy. Ishantha Lokugé has been named SVP, Chief Product Officer and Satish Menon has been named SVP, Chief Technology Officer, Product Platforms. Lokugé will report to Tim Bozik, President of Global Product while Menon will report to Albert Hitchcock, COO and CTO. Ishantha and Satish bring complementary experience and leadership to Pearson from Shutterfly. Together they will help align product and technology teams to drive a more holistic approach to product and platform development. The appointments come on the heels of Pearson’s recent announcement that the company will move all of its US higher education courseware from print to a digital-first model. “Each of these appointments showcase Pearson’s investment in accelerating its digital-first and platform strategies,” said Tim Bozik, Pearson’s president of global product. “By increasing our ability to deliver on that promise, we can drive more innovation, along with engaging experiences and better outcomes for learners.” “Increased alignment between our product and technology teams will support development of breakthrough experiences, more rapid prototyping, streamlined workflows, and faster speed to market,” said Albert Hitchcock, Pearson Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer. “As we strengthen our capabilities, we can become even more agile in responding to learner needs.” In the new role of Chief Product Officer, Ishantha will be responsible for end-to-end product management for higher education and career learning, as well as Pearson-wide platform product management and experience design. Ishantha brings over 20 years of experience leading product, design, technology and strategy teams across various technology companies. He holds degrees in computer science from Brandeis and Tufts, as well as a master’s degree from the MIT Media Lab. As CTO Product Platforms, Satish will be responsible for Pearson’s approach to product platform development, content & experience development and engineering. Satish is highly experienced in technology leadership, data sciences and platform development. Most recently he was accountable for product platform technology at Shutterfly, and has a long history in education technology, working in senior roles at the tech incubator UV Labs, and at Apollo Education. He holds a doctoral degree in computer science from Georgia Tech and masters’ degrees in computer science and mechanical engineering from NJIT. Both will be based in Pearson’s Bay Area offices.