Bloomsbury (LSE:BMY) has appointed Jenny Ridout to its Board as an Executive Director and is restructuring its operating model from a central matrix to three vertical business units to sharpen accountability and agility. The company says the moves are intended to support the "next stage of growth."
"Jenny Ridout has been appointed as an Executive Director on the Board of Directors of Bloomsbury. This follows our long established practice of having the leader of our academic publishing on the board," John Bason, Chair, said.
Ridout is currently Managing Director of the Academic & Professional Division and has led the group's AI initiatives, including the AI training deal announced in July and the December partnership with Google. She recently completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Artificial Intelligence for Business at Saïd Business School, Oxford.
The three units will be Bloomsbury Global Academic & Professional, led by Ridout; Bloomsbury USA, led by Sabrina McCarthy (who will also take on US A&P sales, marketing, rights and audio); and Bloomsbury Consumer UK, with Kathleen Farrar as Managing Director. Ian Hudson will retire from his full-time role and continue as a consultant.
Central functions — Finance, Investor Relations, Commercial & Metadata, Operations, Royalties, Technology, Website and Project/Change Management — are being consolidated under Chief Finance & Operations Officer Keith Underwood.
"The new organisational structure creates a clearer, more agile framework that will enable us to deliver the next phase of Bloomsbury's growth," Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, said.
