John Wiley and Sons, Inc. (NYSE: JWA) (NYSE: JWB), a global research and learning company, today announced that Ella Balagula has been named Wiley’s new Executive Vice President of Wiley’s Publishing segment.
Prior to joining Wiley, Ms. Balagula was Senior Vice President and General Manager of Engineering Solutions at Elsevier, one of the world’s largest providers of scientific, medical, and technology information, where she was responsible for commercial go-to-market, product management, software development and content acquisition and production in the engineering and academic segments. Ms. Balagula also served as CEO of Knovel – a decision-support solution under Elsevier that enables corporate engineers and engineering students to confidently answer technical questions, drawing upon trusted data from more than 130 providers through a cloud-based platform with powerful search and interactive analytical tools.
“Ella Balagula is precisely the kind of world-class change leader we need to optimize our unique and valuable publishing assets – including our STM, professional, and education book content, brands, franchise authors, customers and partnerships,” said Matthew Kissner, Interim CEO and Chairman. “Time and again, Ella has proven herself in the development of successful new business models, redesign of product platforms, transformation of product development mindsets and procedures, buildout of innovative partnerships, and the realization of meaningful revenue and profitability growth.”
Prior to Elsevier, where she also served as Senior Vice President, Engineering and Technology Markets and Vice President, Strategy and Business Development, Corporate Markets, Ms. Balagula was a Principal for A.T. Kearney in their Pharma and Healthcare Division, where she led teams that managed large strategic and operational projects for global Fortune 500 clients. Such projects included corporate growth strategy, channel optimization, and organizational design. Prior to A.T. Kearney, she worked for Citibank and Towers Perrin. She holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and an MS in Mathematics from Odessa National University in the Ukraine.
“Wiley is one of the largest, most respected, and most enduring publishers in the world, and I am honored by the opportunity,” said Ms. Balagula. “I am coming to an organization with an exceptional foundation – terrific assets, strong partnerships, and talented employees. I look forward to working with the team to build on that foundation and create something truly special.”