NEW YORK, Dec. 17, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Scholastic
(NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children's publishing, education, and
media company, today announced two key leadership appointments.
Effective January 1, 2021,
Beth Polcari, current Executive Vice
President and President, Scholastic Magazines Group, will
transition to the role of President, International. She succeeds
Nelson Hitchcock who, after a
15-year career at Scholastic, will retire at the end of this year.
Rose Else-Mitchell is rejoining
Scholastic as President, Education Solutions and over the next six
months, will work with current Scholastic Education President
Greg Worrell and Ms. Polcari to
combine their existing two divisions into a single Education
Solutions group, which Ms. Else-Mitchell will lead effective
June 1, 2021. After leading his
division through this transition, Mr. Worrell will continue to
advise on strategic partnerships until his planned retirement after
30 years in December 2021. In these
roles, Ms. Polcari, Ms. Else-Mitchell, and Mr. Worrell will report
directly to Richard Robinson,
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Scholastic.
"Scholastic has remained relevant for 100 years
because of our ability to directly meet the needs of educators,
students, and families, regardless of circumstance, just as we have
during this unprecedented year. It is this drive to reinforce
children's learning that keeps our company growing," said Mr.
Robinson. "I have worked with Nelson
Hitchcock, Greg Worrell, and
Beth Polcari on Scholastic's mission
for decades and I am proud of their many achievements as we
approached our important centennial moment. As Scholastic enters
its second century, I'm confident that Rose
Else-Mitchell and Beth will further accelerate our
business's growth and global impact as they are both proven,
visionary leaders with track records of innovation and unmatched
knowledge of the global publishing, education and digital learning
landscape."
Beth Polcari, President,
International
As President, International, Ms. Polcari will lead business
operations in the United Kingdom,
Australia and New Zealand, Export, and Asia. With the support of the leaders in each
country, she will direct the international business strategies,
focusing also on operational improvements and connecting Scholastic
U.S. publishing, marketing, finance, and operations talents to the
Company's international businesses.
Ms. Polcari started her career at Scholastic in 1984,
establishing her career in the U.S. education businesses, where she
has excelled in finance, operations, and strategy roles. Her many
accomplishments include building the Early Childhood Division,
managing the development of the supplementary publishing business,
and serving as a Chief Operating Officer of the division during the
expansion of the Company's Education Technology
business. More recently in her role as Executive Vice President and
President, Scholastic Magazines Group, Ms. Polcari improved the
profitability and impact of Scholastic Classroom Magazines and
Scholastic Teaching Resources, while introducing new digital
subscriptions such as Scholastic Literacy Pro®, and
Scholastic F.I.R.S.T.®.
Rose Else-Mitchell, President,
Education Solutions
In the new role of President, Education Solutions, Ms.
Else-Mitchell will lead Scholastic's mission to
provide high-quality, diverse reading materials and improve
literacy instruction in U.S. schools using technology. The merger
of the Company's domestic education businesses will
create new opportunities to drive reading access and reading
achievement for all students, while maintaining
Scholastic's focus on meeting the needs of educators
with innovative, equitable, and efficacious products and services
for digital and hybrid learning. The strength of the combined
product portfolio, alongside deep integrated sales and marketing
capabilities, will expand the Company's reach and opportunity
across K–12 schools.
Ms. Else-Mitchell first joined Scholastic in 2000, following a
career as a teacher, as well as a children's book
advocate with the Children's Book Council of
Australia. At Scholastic, she
designed a new online professional learning solution, reimagined
the teacher experience for the adaptive ed-tech literacy program
READ 180, and in 2008 became Senior Vice President, Product
Development for the EdTech business, which was sold to Houghton
Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) in 2015. Ms. Else-Mitchell was appointed
Chief Learning Officer at HMH, overseeing the largest professional
services organization in U.S. K–12, as well as developing the
Company's teaching and learning technology platform
and learning science capability. Most recently, Ms. Else-Mitchell
has served as a teaching fellow at the Harvard
Graduate School of Education, as well as Chair of the
Industry Council of the EdTech Evidence Exchange.
For more information about Scholastic, visit the
Company's media room:
http://mediaroom.scholastic.com.
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SOURCE Scholastic