Linda K. Zecher

Linda K. Zecher joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in September 2011 as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director. Previously, she served as Corporate Vice President of Microsoft's $8 billion Worldwide Public Sector organization, where she led a team of nearly 2,000 sales and marketing professionals serving government, education and healthcare customers in more than 100 countries. Prior to joining Microsoft in 2003, Linda held leadership positions with Texas Instruments, Bank of America, PeopleSoft, Oracle and Evolve Corp. She currently serves on the U.S. State Department's Board for Overseas Schools, the Focused Ultrasound Surgery Foundation Advisory Council and the Emily Couric Leadership Forum. Linda is also a former member of the Intelligence National Security Association, the Virginia Piedmont Technology Council and James Madison University's Board of Visitors.

Eric Shuman

Eric joined the Company in 2009 from Thomson Lifelong Learning Group, a division of Thomson Corporation, where he most recently served as Chief Executive Officer. Previously, Eric was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Thomson Learning, and Vice President and Corporate Controller for Thomson Newspapers. In those capacities, he led several business integrations, restructurings and significant mergers and acquisitions activities.

William Bayers

Bill joined Houghton Mifflin in May of 2007 as Senior Vice President and General Counsel. Previously, he served as Vice President and General Counsel of Harcourt Education Group. Bill oversees all legal, regulatory and corporate matters for the Company. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Tim Cannon

Tim's career in business, organizational and IT strategy spans nearly three decades. Before joining HMH, Tim was Senior Director of Business Strategy for Microsoft's Worldwide Public Sector organization, where he oversaw the development and execution of business strategies to better serve Government, Education and Health customers and partners worldwide. He has also held leadership roles at companies like Digital Equipment Corporation and Oracle, and helped many large organizations cope with the dynamics of change by implementing responses to maximize shareholder value. Tim serves on the board of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Florida and on the advisory board for the School of Engineering at George Mason University.

Mary Cullinane

Mary spent the last decade spearheading Microsoft′s education-related innovation programs and initiatives worldwide, including its national education programs around 1:1 access and its groundbreaking School of the Future in Philadelphia. With another decade of experience as an educator, Director of Technology and administrator in the public sector, Mary is a recognized thought leader in the area of education reform and the effective use of technology. She has testified before the U.S. Congress, spoken at national and international conferences, and coedited and authored the book What Next?, which documents lessons learned during the building of the School of the Future. Mary holds a Master of Public Policy and Administration from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Arts from The College of New Jersey.

John K. Dragoon

John joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in April 2012. Previously, he served as Chief Marketing Officer and Channel Chief of Novell, where he led the company's Marketing and Partner programs for over seven years. Prior to joining Novell, John served as Senior Vice President, Marketing and Product Management at Art Technology Group (ATG). Before ATG, John served as Vice President, Operations at Internet Capital Group, where he served on the board of nine partner companies and guided strategy, marketing, business development, financing and product development. John also spent more than 16 years at IBM, where he held a number of marketing and sales positions. He holds an MBA from Cornell University and a BS from Union College.

Gary Gentel

Gary joined Houghton Mifflin in October of 2003 as Corporate Vice President and Director of Trade Sales and was promoted to Interim President of the combined Trade Group in July 2007. He was given the permanent position in December of that year. Previously, he served as President of Candlewick Press—a children's publisher based in Cambridge, SVP of Trade Sales at Scholastic Books, and SVP and Publisher of The Grosset and Dunlap Group at GP Putnam's Sons—now a division of Penguin Books. Gary started his publishing career as a Sales Representative at Random House in 1980, rising to VP of Children's Sales by 1990.

Joanne Karimi

Joanne Karimi joined HMH in February 2010, bringing over 20 years of experience in Human Resources. Joanne has crossed industries in the technology arena including high tech, bio-tech and manufacturing, and has also spent time in the service sector, including the Walt Disney Company where she helped launch the Disney Vacation Club. Joanne has a background in operations and has led Customer Service and Total Quality on a global basis. As EVP/Chief Human Resource Officer for HMH, Joanne is responsible for driving and executing global HR strategy, including Talent Management, Talent Acquisition, Total Rewards, and HR Operations. Joanne earned an MBA from the University of West Florida and a Masters Certificate in Organizational Development from Chapman University.

James G. Nicholson

Since 2010, Jim Nicholson has served as President of Riverside Publishing — the professional and educational assessment arm of HMH.  Prior to his current position, he served as Riverside’s Chief Operating Officer, where he was responsible for the company’s strategic planning and product development, overseeing the integration of the Edusoft® Assessment Management System.  With more than 20 years of experience in educational publishing, Jim previously held senior leadership positions at Pearson, including Vice President of Finance for its Literacy business unit.  He holds an MBA from DePaul University and a BS from Indiana University.

Lee Ramsayer

Before joining HMH, Lee served as Senior Vice President of sales for Monster’s Government Solutions sector. While at Monster, Lee built a dedicated sales team that addressed workforce and economic development in regional economies, and also drove change management and new strategy development sales and system integration partnerships. Prior to Monster, Lee served as General Manager, Government Sales and Consulting Services for Microsoft. In this role, Lee led the development of Microsoft’s strategic approach to state and local governments including the development of go-to-market strategies. Lee currently serves on the board of Innovate Education, a national organization focused on STEM education.

Rita Schaefer

Executive Vice-President

Rita Schaefer’s roots with the Company originate in 1979, when she joined McDougal Littell as a Western sales representative. When McDougal Littell was acquired by Houghton Mifflin in 1994, Rita was promoted to Corporate Vice President, and subsequently to President of McDougal Littell in 2000 – a position which she held until 2007. In 2009, Rita rejoined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as Executive Vice President of K-12 Sales and Marketing to oversee and redesign the state adoption and open territory sales functions. Currently, Rita works across HMH’s sales and marketing groups to help implement HMH’s key strategic vision to the Field.  Schaefer received her bachelor’s degree from Augustana College, and began her career in 1976 as an English teacher, but quickly found her way to publishing.

Lesa Scott

President, Heinemann

Lesa Scott is President of Heinemann, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt dedicated to the development of professional resources and educational services for teachers – from kindergarten to college.  A former science, social studies, and health teacher, Lesa’s career in education spans more than thirty years. She left the classroom to market and sell textbooks for Laidlaw Brothers Publishers, subsequently rising to sales and marketing leadership roles at Scott Foresman Educational Publishers, McDougal Littell and Scholastic.  Lesa received a BS and MS in education from Arkansas State University and completed post-graduate studies at Texas Women’s University.

Brook Colangelo

Brook joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in January 2013 from the White House, where he held the role of Chief Information Officer (CIO) since 2009. With over ten years’ experience in technology strategy and implementation, Brook joined the White House team in 2008 to spearhead the Obama-Biden transition project. Prior to that, he held several senior IT leadership roles, including within the Democratic National Convention Committee, The American Red Cross’ Hurricane Recovery Program and QRS Newmedia. Brook holds an honors degree in Political Communications from The George Washington University.

Mark Short

Mark joined HMH in December 2012 from Pearson Education where he most recently served as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing within the company’s English Language Learning division. Prior to that, he held a number of senior regional management, sales and marketing roles across Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Europe as part of Pearson’s global education business. As Head of the International Markets division at HMH, Mark leads a global sales, marketing and business development team responsible for extending the Company’s global footprint across key markets in Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Middle East.