McGraw-Hill Appoints Sally Shankland as President of Its Higher Education Group

NEW YORK, May 26, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- McGraw-Hill, the learning science company, today appointed Sally Shankland as president of its Higher Education group. Shankland most recently served as chief executive officer of UBM Americas, a division of UBM plc, where she led the company's transition from print-based publishing to a digital marketing services business. In her new role, Shankland will report to Peter Cohen, McGraw-Hill's group president of U.S. education. She starts her new position on June 29 and will be based at McGraw-Hill's New York City headquarters.

Shankland's appointment comes as McGraw-Hill moves further in its transition from a publisher to a learning science company that delivers personalized experiences to help improve results for students, educators and professionals. Her arrival completes the reorganization of McGraw-Hill's senior leadership team, which began with the decision to place both the company's U.S. K-12 and higher education businesses under the leadership of Peter Cohen in November 2014.

"Sally brings deep knowledge of business transformations from print to digital, global perspective and a wealth of operational experience," said Peter Cohen, McGraw-Hill's group president of U.S. education. "I'm excited to have her join our talented, diverse team of senior leaders as we continue our progress in improving results through the science of learning."

"While Sally's leadership skills, operations expertise, and integrity made her a standout candidate from the start, it is her strong desire to change lives through learning that makes her such an incredible fit for this role," added David Levin, president and chief executive officer of McGraw-Hill.

Before her most recent role as chief executive officer of UBM Americas, Shankland served as chief executive officer of UBM Connect. She joined UBM in 1988 and has held successive senior-level positions in marketing, sales and management.

"I'm excited to be joining McGraw-Hill at such a pivotal point in the transition of the company and in education," said Shankland. "I've long been fascinated by how knowledge is strengthened through engagement, interactivity and community and can change lives for the better. McGraw-Hill has already made an incredible name for itself in improving outcomes by harnessing the science of learning, and I'm looking forward to continuing and expanding this effort."

Shankland is a graduate of UBM's Business Leaders Programme and has completed executive development courses with Harvard Business School and Cornell University's S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management. She graduated from San Francisco State University with a bachelor's degree in social science (summa cum laude, honors) after attending primary and secondary schools in Italy and Germany.