MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
July 15-31, 2005 Edition
Gary June Named
New Chief Exec
Of Dorling Kindersley
London/07/12/05John Makinson, Penguin Group Chairman and Chief Executive, today announced that Gary June is to become the new CEO of Dorling Kindersley, the worlds premier family reference publisher.
Gary June has many years experience in publishing at Pearson. He has worked at Pearson Education in a variety of roles and is currently Chief Sales and Marketing Officer for Pearson Higher Education, International and Professional. In this role he has overseen all sales and marketing strategies for the Higher Education and Professional business around the world. Under his creative leadership, the computer games publisher, BradyGames has developed into a $47millon business and the leading publisher in its field. He has also been responsible for the consumer business list FT/Wharton and launched Pi Press, a consumer science list. Prior to this position, Mr. June was CEO of Pearsons large technology trade and reference business, including such imprints as Peachpit, Addison-Wesley Professional and Que/Sams.
John Makinson commented, Gary was overwhelmingly the strongest candidate for this role. He is a marketing professional who has turned around Pearsons consumer-facing computer publishing business in a tough and competitive market whilst building BradyGames into a highly successful and profitable publisher. He has worked in editorial markets around the world and has a detailed understanding of the emerging electronic channels that will be so important to our future. Above all he embodies the blend of creative energy and commercial experience needed to ensure DKs success in the years to come. I am delighted that we have persuaded him to join us.
Mr. June will start at DK on Monday, July 18, and divide his time between DKs offices in London and New York. He joins DK mid-way through a successful publishing year. In both the US and UK markets this spring, DK has enjoyed strong market share in its key categories, particularly health and antiques. The tie-in publishing for Star Wars Episode III has also sold strongly around the world. In local markets such as Germany, Australia and Canada, DK has also had a good first half.
Gary June said, DK is one of publishings most distinguished and recognizable brands. I am looking forward to working with the many talented people who have, over the years, built such a strong, distinctive identity for DK and relish the opportunity of finding new ways to reach out to DK readers around the globe. After almost twenty very happy and fulfilling years with Pearson Education, I am very excited by this new challenge.
ABOUT GARY JUNE:
Gary June is an experienced publisher with strengths in sales, marketing and new business creation. He has held almost all functional roles in publishing including sales, marketing, editorial and general management.
Garys publishing career began as a college textbook sales representative in 1986 with Prentice Hall College, a division of Simon & Schuster, where he was promoted to the position of marketing manager for the business list and served as editor for Prentice Halls computing books, before working for a short time in the software industry.
Gary returned to Prentice Hall as Director of Marketing for Science, Engineering, Computer Science and Math, a position he held for five years. In 1995, Gary was named National Sales Manager for Prentice Hall College, a position he held for four years before being promoted to co-president of Prentice Hall, retaining leadership of the sales organization, but also managing their growing vocational publishing business.
In late 2001, Gary moved to trade publishing, as President and CEO of Pearson Technology Group (PTG), the worlds largest professional and consumer publisher for technology-related topics. He launched several new businesses and series, including Wharton Press, a new trade business imprint with an emphasis on thought leadership, Pi Press, a consumer science imprint, and IBM press, the exclusive publishing imprint for IBM-related products and strategies.
Brady Games was another key source of growth. Brady is the leading publishing of licensed strategy guides and has relationships with well-known game companies like Square, Activision, TakeTwo Interactive and Sony.
In 2004, Gary left PTG to become Chief Marketing Officer for Pearson Higher Education, International and Professional. In this role, he managed Higher Eds sales and marketing strategies, as well as their International Markets and Third Party rights sales.
Gary attended the University of Oregon and was graduated from Stanford University with a degree in English and emphasis on Medieval Literature and Economics.
He is married to Jean Godfrey-June, a magazine editor for Lucky Magazine. They have two children.
Dorling Kindersley is an internationally acclaimed publishing company specializing in the creation of high quality, illustrated information books and online resources for children and adults. The Penguin Group is part of Pearson plc, the international media company.
