Executive Leadership

	Linda K. Zecher PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER 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 CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER 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 activity.
	William Bayers EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL 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 EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, STRATEGY AND ALLIANCES 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.
	Gary Gentel PRESIDENT, HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT TRADE AND REFERENCE PUBLISHERS 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.
	Bethlam Forsa EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL PRODUCT AND CONTENT DEVELOPMENT Bethlam previously served as Senior Vice President of Publishing and Operations for School Publishers. In that role she helped to standardize and optimize our print publishing operations. Previously, Bethlam was a partner at Accenture, a leading management consulting firm, where she led programs to improve sales, financial performance, and market capitalization for publishing companies around the world.
	Terry Nealon EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL MARKETS With the support of his international management team, Terry oversees the sale of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt products and services outside the United States. Before being appointed EVP in January 2009, he served as Director of International Sales at Riverdeep, where he led global business development and built a distribution network across 120 countries. Terry previously served Irish and international markets in the software and telecommunications industries.
	Rita Schaefer EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, COMPREHENSIVE CURRICULUM Rita joined McDougal Littell in 1979 and has served as Vice President and National Sales Manager for both open territory and state adoption. From 2000 to 2007, she served as President of McDougal Littell. In February of 2009, Rita rejoined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to aid in the success of the K–12 organization.