Will Ethridge
Chief executive, North American Education
Will Ethridge, 58, joined Pearson in 1988 following the Simon & Schuster acquisition and was appointed chief executive of the U.S Higher Education and Professional Group. In 2003 his responsibilities were expanded when he was appointed chief executive of Pearson's Higher Education, International and Professional Publishing and in January 2005 he was appointed to the Pearson plc management committee. In March 2008 Will took on the new role of bringing together Pearson's North American education businesses, spanning Pearson's School, Higher Education and Professional publishing, assessment, technology and services companies. In May 2008 he was appointed to Pearson plc's board of directors.
Prior to joining Pearson, Will held executive positions at Addison Wesley, as publisher of Business & Economics Publishing and later at Prentice Hall where he was editorial and marketing director for the College Division and president of the Engineering, Science and Math and Professional Publishing divisions. Earlier in his career he was an editor at Little, Brown and Co. and published a number of bestselling textbooks in the fields of economics, finance and politics.
In addition to his duties at Pearson, Will is the chairman of the executive board of the Association of American Publishers (AAP), chairman of the board of CourseSmart, and a member of the board of directors of Interactive Data Corporation (IDC). He graduated in 1974 from the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill with a degree in American Studies.