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Scholastic UK group m.d. Alan Hurcombe is to leave his post.
The publisher said that Hurcombe, who joined Scholastic 10 years ago and has been at the UK helm since 2009, will depart on the 31st July "to pursue other interests".
Hurcombe said: “Ten years is a long time for anyone to be with one company and longer than I have been with anyone [else]. I have been m.d. for three years now and it’s been an amazing ride.”
He added, “I have covered all the things I set out to do when I was appointed. Scholastic UK has seen its first profits for seven years and we have turned around the fairs and clubs businesses and seen revenue grow here and in the trade.”
Hurcombe said he would be looking for a new role within the children’s industry. “It’s time for me to pause and see what opportunities I would like to pursue. I have loved my time in the children’s industry. One of the areas we have worked closely on at Scholastic is direct to consumer and in this changing digital age, this is something that all publishers will need to do more of. We need to be better at reaching our consumers directly.”
Linda Gosnell, co-president of Scholastic Canada, who has "worked closely with Alan over the last three years and credits him with turning the UK business around and returning it to profitability", according to the publisher's statement, thanked Hurcombe for "his hard work and commitment to the Scholastic company over the years."
Scholastic International's revenues were up 11% in the first quarter of this year with segment revenue rising to $105.6 million ($95.1m in 2011) on "strong" sales in Canada, the UK and Australia, driven by Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy.