ChampionScott Partners is thrilled to announce the successful completion of a series of leadership appointments through its strategic partnership with McGraw-Hill Education.  In 2012, McGraw-Hill Education (MHE) was spun out of McGraw-Hill Corporation in a strategic initiative to further develop the education business and create substantive value for both companies.   MHE’s new CEO, Buzz Waterhouse, challenged ChampionScott Partners (CSP) to work as a strategic partner to recruit their Chief Digital Officer for MHE’s future digital product and service initiatives.  The objective was to recruit this executive to lead their digital product innovation and build on the company’s portfolio of digital learning solutions for the K-12, higher education, assessment and professional markets to differentiate and position MHE as the market leader worldwide.

CSP leveraged its proven expertise and extensive network in the eLearning and Digital Content Services sectors to successfully recruit Stephen Laster as MHE’s Chief Digital Officer in August of 2012.  Stephen’s challenge was to lead the creation of compelling student experiences, develop breakthrough teaching and learning solutions, and build a world class team.  Upon his appointment, Stephen expanded CSP’s engagement as a strategic partner to focus on the recruitment of critical leadership appointments for the newly formed Digital Platform Group.  ChampionScott is pleased to announce the appointments of the following five key executives as a result of this partnership:

• Scott Virkler as Senior Vice President, Product, Program & Portfolio Management.  Scott brings over 25 years of commercial, product and digital content delivery strategy      leadership experience from companies such as Petroskills, Elsevier, GlobalSpec and General Electric.
• Bobby Babbrah as Senior Vice President, Learning Platforms & Architecture.  Bobby brings 20 years of product management, development, strategy and technical architecture leadership experience from companies such as Archipelago Learning, ImageTag and Pearson School Technology.
• Stacy Hansbury as Vice President, Digital Channels & Customer Experience. Stacy brings over fifteen years of business management, online commerce, customer experience, service improvement and support leadership experience as a key player for one of the most trafficked sites on the web, Staples.com.
• Alfred Essa as Vice President, R&D and Analytics.  Alfred brings 20 years of learning analytics, product, IT, research and business strategy experience at organizations such as Desire2Learn, Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, MIT’s Sloan School of Management, the .LRN open source project, and SunGard Higher Education.
• David Sprogis as Senior Director, Technical Product Manager, Dashboard Analytics. David brings over 20 years of digital and analytical product engineering and entrepreneurial leadership experience from companies such as Pearson Education, Rational Software, and Quadris, as well as having founded and run his own company CineCast, a start-up that digitized cinema screen advertising.

This talented group is based out of McGraw-Hill Education’s newly established Technology Center of Excellence and Innovation in Boston, Massachusetts, which drives the research and development of cutting-edge education technologies.  These experienced executives bring their passion for innovation in learning, analytics, and consumer-facing technologies that will enhance McGraw-Hill Education’s learners’ user experience and engagement with its suite of digital learning products.

ChampionScott Partners did an exceptional job supporting MHE’s Digital Platform Group team development, averaging 93 days to completion for each appointment while providing substantial savings through CSP’s Leadership Advisory Services.

To learn more about CSP’s expertise in successfully executing business leadership transformation projects including critical executive search appointments, leadership assessment, team build-outs and other Leadership Advisory Services, please contact ChampionScott Partners.

About McGraw-Hill Education

McGraw-Hill Education partners around the world with students, educators, administrators and other professionals to deliver engaging, adaptive and personalized solutions that improve performance and results. They combine proven, research-based content with the best emerging digital technologies to guide assessment, teaching and learning to achieve the best possible outcome for students, instructors and institutions. McGraw-Hill Education employs more than 6,000 people in 44 countries and publishes in more than 60 languages.  Discover more at: www.mheducation.com.

About ChampionScott Partners

ChampionScott Partners is the world’s premier retained executive search firm. Our specialty is senior leadership appointments in technology and technology-enabled companies, including related growth industries. Our client base encompasses both start-ups and global 500 companies.  From our offices in Asia, Europe and the U.S., our partners recruit board directors, CEOs and senior executive leadership.  We have successfully recruited senior management for leading companies in the U.S., China, Japan, Europe, and India. Our partners proven global operating and executive search expertise is applied to every search and integral to the success of the business strategies that shape our clients’ companies. For more information, visit www.championscott.com.